Inheritance
by Sparkle Itamashii
Summary: Wherein it is discovered that no matter how fast you run or how far you go, you cannot escape your past. [1x2x1] [also[past]1xR][boylove:yaoi] NAOI BASE.
1. Prologue

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Author: Sparkle Itamashii

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

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**Prologue**

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Honestly, when a war ends aren't things supposed to get _better_?

We spend a year bringing about a revolution, pounding pacifism into people's skulls, making all fighting stop no matter how many people die by our hands along the way… aren't I supposed to be able to call it quits when all is said and done?

I should have been safe from cruel ironies.

I'd thought I was.

Everything in the entire rest of the world had fallen into peace after the incident with Mariemaia. That was four years ago. The colonies and Earth hadn't had a single conflict since then that could not be resolved with a little bit of talk. Beautiful- that worked just as we'd hoped.

The pilots? We were pretty well off, at first. For the most part we'd even managed to keep contact, although even that much was a horrendous ordeal in the beginning.

Wu Fei wasn't hard to find; he stayed with Sally at the Preventers' headquarters. Much to his dismay she'd made sure that we could always reach him.

Quatre was a big name in the world, taking after his father; it was a rare thing to watch the news and _not_ hear his name for one reason or another. However, that did not mean it was easy to get into contact with him. I would manage to find a phone number or address where I could reach him, only to be told he'd moved on for some conference or another. That was resolved when I got into contact with his sisters instead, and made them tell me where he was going to be.

Trowa was never particularly hard to find because he was usually traveling with the circus. Of course, finding the circus often proved difficult enough because there were several of them hopping around the colonies. However, once I'd given him my number we were able to keep contact.

Heero was the only really difficult one… but he was also the only one I wanted.

I just _had_ to find him again.

After he said goodbye to Relena he'd dropped off the face of the planet- quite literally. It took me almost six months to track his ass down and get a phone number. Even then every time I called the answering machine picked up for him. He was entirely the type to let the machine get it even if he was sitting a foot away (a habit I could never, ever have- if a phone rings I _have_ to answer it, regardless of who it's for or where I am). Knowing that, I decided to pay him a visit. After an extensive search I located the building and… well, staked it out. I knew he wouldn't answer the door if he knew who was ringing, so I waited until I could corner him coming out of the building.

Me and my damn fool ideas almost got me shot that morning.

Despite that the war had been finished for over half a year, Heero still had lightning fast reflexes. In a flash he had a .9mm aimed between my eyes but when he realized who I was, it vanished just as quickly. With a dirty look he had turned away from me to continue walking down the street. I took the fact that I was still alive as an open invitation to follow, ginning as I easily matched his stride. He'd always tolerated me, even when he made it crystal clear that he didn't want company.

"What are you doing here?" He growled after only a few paces, probably realizing yet again that I was not going to just go away like most people would.

"You need company." I stated simply, leaving no room for argument.

I've been with him ever since.

Sure, we've lived comfortably enough in the years since the war's end. Heero already had a job and I quickly found myself one. It was even legit and legal! The money we had saved from all the hacking we'd done as soldiers helped out when things looked rough but all in all we were able to take care of ourselves. It took me quite a while but I eventually coaxed Heero into doing things other than stay at the house or go to work.

Don't get me wrong- it's not that Heero doesn't like to do fun things, or that he doesn't feel anything. It's quite the contrary. He loves social gatherings and loves to talk to people. The problem is that he never really had a chance to be genuinely social. From what I could tell, every place he had been as a child growing up had centered around missions and reconnaissance. If he made conversation it was usually carefully directed in an attempt to learn what he needed to know. If he made friends it was only because they had something or access to something that he needed.

There is little time for real life when you're busy playing war.

The passion, though, all of the raw emotion and desire to be a part of something other than a squad or mission group… it was all there, locked inside of him. All I had to do was fashion a key and he began to warm up to the things I brought into his life. It was a long road but he was beginning to act more like a human being again. Well, a little bit anyhow.

So, almost five years after I first met him, we were finally living normal lives. We had normal friends and normal jobs, a normal house and a normal dog we'd named Artemis. Everything was so fucking normal until that one, ruinous phone call.

I distinctly remember walking in the door that Wednesday night to find the phone was ringing from on the cabinet next to the couch. Heero was curled up on the couch, half a foot away and dutifully not answering. I tossed my bag to the floor and bolted across the room to answer it.

"Hello! Hello? Don't hang up, I'm here." I said quickly, sliding into the seat as Heero hastily and grumpily vacated it to make room.

"Heero?" Came a choked, familiar sounding voice. I couldn't place who exactly it was, though…

"Uh… no. Who is this? Can I take a message?" It was hard enough to get Heero on the phone when it was someone we both knew, much less anyone else.

"Can you please tell him that Hilde called?" She asked. It sounded as though she had been crying.

"Hilde! Are you all right? This is Duo. What happened?" Heero sat up from where he had sunk down into the couch and gave me a curious look. Hilde hadn't called in ages, not since she'd finally realized I was permanently staying with him.

"Duo?" Hilde sounded surprised to hear me talking. Maybe she didn't think I would still be here.

"Yeah. What's the matter? You sound like you've been crying." I couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong.

"It's Relena, Duo." She barely whispered the words, her voice squeaking upward as she cut herself off before she could cry aloud.

"Relena?" I echoed, giving Heero an 'I don't know what the hell she's talking about, do you?' look, to which he only shrugged and raised an eyebrow.

There was a long moment of dead air on the phone but just as I began to think I'd been hung up on, she took a calming breath. "She was shot this morning."

I almost dropped the phone when my body went numb at the words. "Shot…?" I echoed hollowly and Heero gave me a startled, concerned look. We were so far past the war, though… Surely we were safe from attacks like that, right?

"She's dead." Hilde breathed, and I could hear her begin to cry on the other end of the line. I closed my eyes against the ill feeling in my stomach, and handed the phone to Heero when he held out his hand for it.

Numb didn't even begin to describe how I felt. Dead would have been a better word. I had never been as close to Relena as Heero had but that didn't mean she wasn't one of my very good friends. We'd just seen her last week! The feeling of invincibility that had been steadily creeping over me since I had turned thirteen shattered. I know I came close to dying countless times but my death had never come to fruition. I felt the same when it came to the others- like they would never really die, no matter what we were faced with at the time. When Treize had been killed, yeah, it was a shock but he was still the enemy. He wasn't a friend, he wasn't a comrade; he wasn't even someone I would speak civilly to on the streets if we passed each other.

Relena's death, however, hit far too close to home.

I want to say that the knowledge that she was dead was the worst thing that happened. I want to tell you that we were shaken up about it; that we went to her funeral and everyone cried and told stories of the good times we had in the past and the bad things we lived through with her help. I want to be able to make you think that we went to a quiet luncheon afterwards where there were sandwiches and bowls of fruit, fizzy punch and some chocolate cake that only tasted like cardboard because everyone was so numb. I want to say that was the end.

Unfortunately, it was only the beginning.

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/**End Prologue, Inheritance**/

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	2. Chapter One

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Author: CONTACTcon-589113057 Sparkle Itamashii

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Please respect the rating. See profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE. Plot is mostly not mine.

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Chapter One

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I really hate funerals.

No one wants to attend but everybody does.

No one wants to be sad about it but everybody is.

No one wants to believe someone they know has died… but they have to.

Light above, it shouldn't have been Relena. Any of us, any one of us, would have been a better choice. We spent so much time bringing ruin to those people whom we thought needed to be put in their places. We came nose to nose with Death, kissed it sweetly, and said "next time" for just over a year. We sent hundreds, if not _thousands_, of people to their graves early… and yet Relena was the first to die. Relena the pacifist; the peacemaker.

She should have been the last to go, not the first.

Sitting in that second row pew, staring mutely at the priest as he readied something at the altar, I still couldn't believe she was gone. It still felt like I was going to go home and be able to call her or that I would turn on the television and see her doing something great just like she always was.

Even though I knew she wouldn't.

She never would again.

I turned my gaze to Heero, who was sitting silently beside me. He'd hardly said a word all day, not even when I fussed over his suit and retied his tie a million times. It was unnerving how perfectly still he sat, staring blankly into the space before him as if he was no long with us. I knew he was taking her death roughly, despite how he looked- when Heero hurt he closed in on himself and seemed, to most of the world anyway, not to care. I knew better. I knew how close he and Relena had been and I knew he wasn't going to just pop back from this. What I wouldn't have given to be able to help him…

I sighed wearily and glanced around the room, wondering how much longer it would be before this god-forsaken funeral would begin. It wasn't that I wasn't upset but drawing things out only seemed to make it worse. It hurt that a friend had died and I didn't need to be sharply reminded every time I took a look around me. I was already sick of being upset, even though I knew I couldn't help it.

I _hate_ being helpless…

People had been filtering into the funeral home for the past hour, all in varying degrees of grief. Most of the people here today were from the Darlian family and a few had been friends of the Peacecrafts since before the original collapse that separated Relena and Milliardo. We had decided to keep this part of the funeral small- there would be a world wide memorial that anyone could attend later but for now those of us closest to her needed time to recover, pull ourselves together enough to face the masses.

Some of us needed more time than others, I thought as I watched Hilde wander.

She had been milling around in the pews, looking rather lost. She kept staring up at the ornate ceiling of the chapel in a dazed way, as though looking for an answer there that she knew she would not receive. Quatre had approached her several times already but every time he walked away looking even more concerned than when he started. He had finally given up and settled himself by the entrance to greet people, falling into a mindless pattern to avoid having to think. I'd seen him do it before and it was not a good sign.

It seemed like forever before Hilde approached the altar and came face to face with the priest. They conversed in soft, low tones for several minutes before he placed his hands on her shoulders and gave her a gentle smile. She returned the smile, albeit very weakly, and stepped down to the ground. Although she was supposed to sit front row she chose to collapse next to me. I wrapped my arms around her and she clung to me like a lifeline.

I wanted to join her when I felt the silent sobs that wracked her frame but I was past crying by then. She was trying so hard to keep it under control. My world was coming unraveled around me, not so much in grief as in bewilderment- Relena was supposed to be the safest of any of us. Hilde was supposed to be stable; I had never seen her cry like this. If these people could be hurt, could break down, what was in store for the rest of us? There was supposed to be _rest_ and _peace_ when the war ended.

Not death. Not grief.

"We are gathered here today in remembrance of Miss Relena Peacecraft-Darlian…" The minister began. Silence fell all around me, broken only by sniffles and barely muffled sobs.

I'm afraid I didn't catch much more than the first few lines of what he had to say. I was never all that great at paying attention in the first place and somehow it didn't seem right to have to listen to a complete stranger talk about my friend as though he'd known her. He hadn't known her. He didn't know us. This was just another job to him, another funeral sermon like any other if perhaps a little more well known. At the end of the day when he went home he didn't have to deal with the loss.

So I ignored him and let my thoughts wander over my own memories of her.

Relena and I hadn't made it off to the greatest of starts- in fact for quite a while she hated me bitterly. In time I learned that it was only because she didn't know me, and, well… shooting Heero twice and then kidnapping him away from her probably had not helped. As luck would have it though, I ended up meeting her a couple more times and grew to respect her a great deal.

You see, the other four pilots and me... we were fighting _in_ the war. Relena? Well, she was fighting the war _itself_ and that alone was extraordinary. If any of us ever had the right idea I think it was her.

It wasn't until after the war was over and Mariemaia had been taken care of that I really began to appreciate Relena as a friend instead of just an ally. I had come to visit Heero in the hospital only to find Miss Peacecraft herself curled in a little ball in the chair next to his bed, fast asleep. Heero was attached to all sorts of machinery and there were bruises and scratches covering his skin, but he was clean and alive and hanging in there. It finally occurred to me, standing there silently watching the two of them, that we were still just a pack of kids, running around trying to save the world.

Feeling me standing there, I guess, she stirred and blinked sleepily. I smiled, leaning gently on the doorframe with my arms folded against my chest, and she returned the smile with a yawn. I will never forget those next few minutes, when I realized what she was truly made of.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, without making a move to stand or even uncurling from where she'd been dozing.

"It's okay. I didn't mean to wake you." I said quietly, looking away from her and allowing my gaze to settle on Heero. He looked so much more at peace when he was asleep.

"Not for that." She corrected after a moment, finally stretching and rising. I watched her lightly brush her fingers over Heero's before she turned to me again. "I'm sorry for not realizing it sooner."

I only gave her a confused, worried look as I wondered what she was talking about. I must have looked quite the sight because she chuckled tiredly and moved to stand in front of me, never taking her eyes from mine. She drew to a stop, staring rather seriously as though looking for some kind of confirmation. At last she sighed and shook her head the slightest bit.

"He woke up for a little last night, you know." Those words sounded wrongly heartbroken, despite the determination she put behind them. "The first thing he asked was where you were."

I stopped breathing, only stared dumbly at her with wide eyes. I could plainly see that she knew exactly what she was implying when she spoke. But I had thought for certain… I mean, didn't he plan on staying with… her? She had to be mistaken.

"Since he could see you were all right, his friends were probably just what he worried about next. He knew me and the others were fighting." I offered weakly.

She gave me a "don't bother" look and broke eye contact. "He never asked about the others, Duo. Just you." She began to move past then but stopped beside me, glancing sideways. "He's coming to the manor when they release him, until he's well enough to leave, which I am sure he will do as soon as he can." She paused, looking forward again. "I expect you to take good care of him after that, Duo Maxwell."

I watched her walk from the room, just barely able to keep myself from gaping. "Where are you going?" I managed before she was out of range.

"I'm going to get some lunch." She called over her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll be right back."

The defeat had vanished from her voice entirely and just like that she had been herself again. There was no trace of the sadness, nothing that would have ever given away any clue as to what we had been speaking about. She never looked back from that decision, never second guessed that she had done what she needed to in telling me what she had that day.

Then again, she had always been one of those people who never questioned herself. She never wondered if she was doing the right thing because she always knew she was. She knew that the actions she made were in the best interest of the entire world, whether they thought so at the time or not. Ever since the Mariemaia incident she had been putting everything and everyone in order, bringing about the sort of peace that was hell-bent on lasting. She had done what none of us thought truly possible.

And yet she was the one laying in the casket now, instead of us.

I would like to be able to say "when I get my hands on the filthy cur that did this, I'll kill him" but… Heero already took care of that.

He'd sat in stony silence while Hilde related the entire story to him. As soon as she was done he thanked her and replaced the phone on the cradle. He sat silently for a long moment, staring into space as if he were never going to move again. I had long since curled up against the armrest of the couch, shocked and on the verge of crying myself. I just could not believe that Relena, one of our closest friends, was taken from us just like that.

We survived the war.

We were supposed to be safe.

I remember watching him get to his feet, walking stiffly to the front closet. I wanted to say something, _anything_, but my words caught thickly on my breath and I couldn't bring myself to do more than gawk. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew what he was doing. I knew why he was reaching into that closet, I knew exactly what he was going to pull out and I knew I couldn't (nor would I have) stopped him. It didn't surprise me in the least when he strapped the shoulder holster on and slipped his jet black .9mm into it. I finally managed to ask him where he was going as he pulled his jacket on over his shoulders and turned up the neck of it.

The look he turned to me… I never, _never_ want to see it again. Ever. Fear spider-webbed over my skin and my hands turned icy cold. Sometimes, when people get angry enough you can see murder in their eyes. It wasn't like that with Heero. When he got into that state of mind you suddenly knew there are things _far_ worse than death.

I knew they would never find the body.

I was snapped from my thoughts when Heero elbowed me gently in the ribs, indicating that we should be removing ourselves from the main room. I glanced over, startled at the way Heero was avoiding looking at me. It was as though if he couldn't see _my_ eyes I couldn't see his, and therefore could not see that he had been crying.

My heart clenched painfully in my chest and I slipped my hand into his, squeezing gently. He returned the gesture, still not meeting my eyes. In a way I was glad that he had finally let himself break down and cry- letting himself feel was the only way this was ever going to heal for him. I was a little startled that it had taken such a short time but maybe I was still thinking of the Heero I'd found four years ago. He had come so far in the time I had been with him, learning not to keep everything pent up inside of him until he snapped. He looked at me when I rose and nodded to the doorway. Clambering to his feet as well, he followed me from the room.

The lunch was a disaster from the start. If no one had wanted to be at the funeral, they _really_ did not want to linger around to discuss it. At least during the sermon they had not been required to talk. Here they spoke of everything except Relena- the kids, the home, the new trick the dog had learned- anything to keep their minds sheltered, safe from remembering that someone had died.

The food tasted like I imagine cardboard would- dry, flaky, and slightly burnt. I shied away from the normal population, taking a seat toward the middle of the room where people were always reluctant to sit. The middle of the sea of chairs and tables left most people feeling trapped or alone, neither of which they could handle at the moment. I pushed fried chicken and some mostacholi around on my plate, willing it to eat itself for me so that I could leave without being hassled for not eating.

I saw when Quatre finally made it to the lunch room. He looked like a zombie, staring blankly into space and moving as though he wasn't really here. Trowa trailed beside him, fingers twined in his and talking in his soft, soothing voice. That boy was the only thing keeping Quatre on his feet, I was sure of it. I had never been so glad to see the two of them together. I caught Trowa's attention with a wave of my hand and he acknowledged me with the slightest nod.

I was soon joined by the only people brave enough to risk the center table- the other four ex-pilots and some guy named Phil. Heero found me first, followed quickly by an ever-sullen looking Wu Fei. Trowa found us again, taking a seat and pulling Quatre down after him. Quatre had only just settled himself wearily in his chair, maneuvering his food with the tip of his fork and dutifully not eating a bite of it when "Phil" appeared. I was startled to see a stranger anywhere near the five of us and even more so when he actually took a seat.

He was a birdy sort of man with a sharp nose and a cleft chin but there was no mistaking the look in his pale grey eyes- he was here for business. I observed the way his dark hair was combed perfectly, kept in place by some type of slightly shiny gel that lent a sort of unreal quality to his otherwise impeccable appearance. Very gently he picked up the small centerpiece and replaced it with a thick, ominous looking manila folder. He looked each one of us in the eyes over the rims of his glasses without flinching and without fear.

Every last bit of this man screamed lawyer.

"I understand that this is a difficult situation for you and that this may not be the best time to be discussing this but I also recognize the fact that the five of you will be nearly impossible to track down after you leave this building." He began in a level, soothing voice that was meant to keep everyone on his side.

I snorted in disgust and pushed myself away from the table, snatching up my plate under the pretense that I could at least pretend to be getting more food instead of storming off because someone wanted to talk to us. Quatre made as though to protest but he was shushed by Heero, of all people. Promising myself I would thank him for that later, I headed for the buffet line and hoped no one would follow me.

It wasn't long before I noticed the little girl standing forlornly at the edge of the table, staring at the plate of cookies that was much too far out of her reach. I glanced around too see if I could spot a mother or father but there was no one who seemed even a little interested in her. Maybe they had gone back upstairs. I did see Heero staring at me, however, more interested in what I was doing than in anything the lawyer had to say.

Taking a breath, I sidled over to the child's side and offered her a smile, though I felt rather silly doing so. She couldn't have been over three and I wasn't even sure if three year olds could talk or think or do anything. It wasn't as though I'd ever really been around kids, except when I had been one, and that lot hadn't exactly acted their age. The streets tended to force age upon you whether you wanted it or not. She didn't look at all street roughened to me.

"Hi." I said quietly, not sure if she would understand or respond.

She turned a curious gaze to me, large cobalt-blue eyes looking me up and down once before she spoke. "Hi."

After that I was pretty much lost as for what to say. I mean for all I knew her response wasn't true and she was just repeating what I'd said. So I stared, quite a bit dumbly, until she turned her attention away again. I looked her over nervously, taking in the dusty blonde hair, the completely still yet relaxed posture… She held herself as though she belonged to nobility, which she might very well have. I could tell she knew that there were cookies on the table above her and yet she stood stock still beside the table as if reaching for the treats was too far beneath her to even try. Somehow I didn't think little kids were supposed to act that way.

Glancing to the table I saw Quatre watching me with a semi-frightened look. I smiled and waved as subtilely as I could manage. He leaned in to talk to the others at the table, waving his hand and motioning to me without ever removing his gaze from me. I got a crawling, eerie feeling as I saw that, but I forced myself to turn my attention to the situation at hand. Quatre and the others could do whatever they wanted so long as I didn't have to sit still for it.

I cleared my throat nervously and the little girl looked askance at me, as though I'd interrupted something important. "Are you ah… are you lost?"

"No." She replied in a detached, saddened sort of way. "Are you?"

"Nope." I responded, wondering where on earth she had picked that impish nature so young.

Out the corner of my eye I saw Quatre and Trowa rising quickly, Trowa's lengthy strides moving him faster toward me. Heero didn't move right away, still listening to the lawyer speak. With the way he was glaring so fiercely at the lawyer, something must have seriously caught his ear.

"Let's get you back to your mother," I suggested, hoping she would take the bait and show me her parents so I could reunite them and deal with whatever Quatre had decided. "Where is she?"

That was where things really started going downhill.

The little girl just burst into tears. For no reason. I froze, staring dumbly at her and panicking over what to do. I hadn't touched her, I hadn't said anything bad, I didn't DO anything to merit that sort of response! She was just standing there, wailing, and we were both starting to attract the attention of every single person still in the church's basement reception area. Which was about twenty people too many for my taste.

Thankfully Quatre latched onto my arm and saved me from being the center of attention just as Trowa crouched in front of the girl. I saw enough of them to watch him press a cookie into her hand, causing her to stop and look tearfully at him before Quatre turned me around to face him. I blinked, startled to see the angry look on his soft features.

"What do you think you're doing?" He hissed, glancing over my shoulder and then back to me, fixing me with a dead serious glare.

"I didn't do anything!" I protested, waving my hand for emphasis. "I just asked her where her mom was and she started howling like I'd tried to kill her!"

"Don't you know who that _is_?" He asked incredulously, as though I were the stupidest person he'd ever spoken to in his life. When I only stared blankly at him he gave me a frustrated sigh. "That's _Mara_."

He said it as though it held some sort of special meaning, as though I should very well know who the hell he was talking about. But I didn't. She could have been _anyone_. She looked like a lot of kids I had lived with growing up, resembled the nameless children I had seen during the war. I just stared dumbly at him, waiting for him to elaborate. Quatre was daft if he thought I would remember one kid of a family that was attending the funeral.

He sighed heavily. "Duo… That's Mara. Relena's daughter?"

I froze for a second before I relaxed enough to laugh. "Good one, Quatre!" I said, relieved that it hadn't been more serious than this. He looked so startled at my reaction that I had to chuckle again. "Come on, even you can come up with a better joke than that! Relena doesn't have a kid. The press would have had a field day!

He snorted and grabbed my arms as gently as anyone angry ever had, and spun me around to face away from him. My eyes fell on Trowa, who was speaking quietly to the little girl. To Mara.

"Look at her, Duo." Quatre said quietly from right beside my ear. "Look at her and tell me I'm wrong. It's definitely her kid."

My eyes widened as I stared at the girl, the resemblance starkly visible now that it had been pointed out to me. I don't know how I could have missed it- the dark blonde hair, the delicate face set in such a determined manner, the same build… even the way she held herself told of Relena. I felt really stupid for not seeing it earlier. There was no way I could deny… but if…

"Oh god…" I breathed, realizing what I had done. I had just asked a small child where her dead mother was. In the history of shitty things people have done, I think I'd just won a medal. "I didn't know…"

"She never told the public." He said quietly and a little confused, not moving from where he stood. "I thought she'd told you and Heero, though."

"Well she didn't. Why didn't she tell anyone?" I asked, eyes still trained on the child.

"She didn't want anyone to know, I guess." He took a calming breath and sighed. "Phil said she was planning on making a show of adopting Mara in a couple of months, as if she wasn't her real child. But then…" I felt him shrug against my shoulder. "She really didn't tell you?" His voice took on a distinctly nervous edge.

I digested that, wondering why Relena wouldn't want people to know she had a child. It seemed very un-Relena-like to do something of that manner. Though I suppose she would have been very young when she had Mara and that could have affected her political position… I shook my head, trying not to think too deeply right now.

"Where is the father, then?" I queried, curious as to why I'd never heard that Relena was dating anyone. Surely the press would have found out at least _that_ much.

"Well, that's the thing…" Quatre said stiffly, shifting away from me.

I tensed instantly, dread settling in a knot in my stomach at the way he said those words. "What…" I said cautiously, not sure if it was a warning or a plea.

He made a slightly distressed noise in the back of his throat and shifted on his feet. "The thing is…" He started, hedging away from giving me a direct answer, "They weren't sure at first, but since she told us we already knew and-"

"Quatre." I demanded rather flatly, "Who is the father?" My stomach twisted and I felt like I was going to be ill. Somewhere in me I already knew the answer. Those deep, cobalt blue eyes, that body structure, the faint tan that had nothing to do with the sun… Oh yes, I knew who she belonged to but I didn't want to hear it.

"She's Heero's." He whispered.

Oh god…

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/**End Chapter One, Inheritance**/

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	3. Chapter Two

Author: Sparkle Itamashii

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

**Chapter Two**

There was no way Heero could have a _child_. He'd been with _me_ the past four years! He hadn't visited Relena alone since I'd shown up here. This little girl was not possibly over three years old and yet… there was no denying her heritage now that it had been pointed out to me. Although she had Relena's slight build and the same dusty blonde hair, those deep blue eyes were the same eyes I woke up to every morning. Those eyes… were unmistakably Heero's.

I groaned, trying to keep myself from being sick.

Had Relena told him?

Had he known all along?

No way. If he knew he would have told me. …Right?

I tried to calm myself, taking a deep breath. Blood was singing past my ears from the way my heart was pounding. Heero was standing only a few feet away, staring passively at the little girl as if he didn't know who she was. She stared right back with wide eyes, not quite ready to cry but not ready to give up the idea either. Quatre stood nervously at my side, as if he expected me to fly into a rage or collapse on the ground or do _some_thing more than just stand there, gaping.

"Duo…?" He finally prompted quietly, touching my elbow with the backs of his fingers.

"What does that mean?" I responded, though my voice sounded strained even to my own ears. "If she's…" I let the sentence falter because I was sure he knew what I was trying to ask.

"We're not sure yet." Although he sounded worried I could hear the note of relief behind the words. "The lawyer says nothing is going to happen right now. She'll be in protective custody for at least another week until they get everything straightened out."

"After that?"

He shrugged helplessly and turned his eyes to the girl, who had offered her cookie to a very confused looking Heero. "She doesn't have anywhere to go. Relena and Milliardo were the last Peacecrafts. If no one can find Milliardo… They won't have a choice in outing Heero as the father. He'll have to decide if he wants to keep her or not."

"It's not like he really has a choice, is it? She can't bloody well live on her own." I shot.

"Adoption." He said simply. "She'd have to be put up for adoption. From there we could always try to find someone we know to take her, so at least they could teach her who she really is."

I closed my eyes briefly, already knowing that I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I could have prevented a child from having to go through all that. "What did Heero say when he heard all this?" The look Quatre gave me suggested that… "Heero _does_ know all this, right?" I asked weakly.

"He heard the same words we just did, but I think he got a different idea about what it means. I don't think he understands. I don't think he realizes what he is going to have to do, whatever he chooses."

It didn't take a genius to hear the nervous edge in Quatre's voice. He didn't want to have to try and explain it to Heero any more than I did. The only difference was that he could get out of having to while I… could not. I groaned, looking up as my eyes closed. After a pause I sighed and shook my head in defeat.

"Fine." I gritted, moving forward. "I'll tell him…"

Heero looked up when I reached his side, giving me a curious, sort of detached look. I knew what that meant- he had removed himself from the situation and taken a stance as an observer only. Great. Trying to get through to him now was only going to be the second most difficult thing in the entire world.

The first thing being, of course, getting him to _care_ once he understood.

"So…?" I prodded gently, hoping against hope that he would cooperate with me to get this worked out properly.

"What?" His innocent tone made me want to murder him- like he didn't have a single clue as to why I had come over to talk.

"What do you make of this situation, Heero?" I asked, exasperated.

"It can't stay with us." He said simply, fixing me with a warning look.

"She, Heero. She's not an "it"; she is a _she_." I hissed, not wanting the little girl to overhear us. Thankfully Trowa had taken over distraction duties and was occupying her attention. "Where else is she going to go?"

"I don't know!" He exclaimed, sounding irritated. "Where-ever little kids go."

I felt a hot spike of anger flare up inside me. He was talking of abandoning her, even though he _knew_ she was _his_ child. I knew Heero had no idea of what she was going through. True, he had lost his caretaker, Odin Lowe, when he was very young but despite that connection he was still clueless. He had never had a home, never had real parents, or even had foster parents. No one had put him into an orphanage so he had never had to face what they were proposing we put Mara through in short order.

"We are _not_ leaving her behind, Heero." I said with as much control as I could muster. "She is in this world because of _you_, and you are damn well going to take care of her."

Five minutes- hell, even _one_ minute- before he'd basically said he wanted to get rid of her, I might even have been willing to agree. We weren't ready for dealing with children; not even just one! Neither of us knew the first thing about taking care of anyone so young. I mean for God's sake he'd used the pronoun "it" to describe her! Taking her home could only end up in total disaster.

The _way_ he said it, though, the _tone_ he took… I couldn't handle it.

I couldn't leave her behind, if only to teach Heero a lesson.

He gave me a scathing glare, one that would have made any lesser person back down immediately. "It's _not_ coming home with us." He grated, eyes never leaving mine.

"Yes, it- _she_ is." I returned, seething now.

I really want to tell you that the avid declaration was the end of the conversation and that Heero backed down to my superior arguing skills… but sadly, we were interrupted when Mara burst into tears again. I whirled around, looking at a very bewildered Trowa. He gave me a helpless look and remained where he was crouched.

"What did you do?" I demanded harshly.

"Nothing." He defended in an even tone.

I took a step toward them but before I could do anything a little old lady swooped down out of fucking _nowhere_ and scooped the child into her arms, murmuring soothing words. Mara went quiet instantly, wrapping her arms around the woman's neck. I glared uncertainly at the stranger, wondering if I should be getting angry with her or be relieved that she'd gotten the kid to be quiet. She gave me a hard, searching look and lightly bounced Mara in her arms, keeping her quiet.

"That is the second time tonight you've made this little girl cry." She informed me sternly. "What's your name?"

Although I wasn't so sure I wanted to tell her my name, I did so automatically. "I'm Duo. Who are you?"

"Bernice." She didn't offer me her hand. "I'm with child services and I have been taking care of Miss Peacecraft for the past few days." It sounded so strange to hear the surname on her tongue like Relena was still alive when I knew very well that she was not.

"Well… Heero here will be taking Mara as soon as he can." I ignored the muttered "no I won't." when it came and smiled politely.

She gave him an appraising look and didn't seem impressed in the least. "We'll see. No one can take her anywhere for another four days."

"Four days?" I said, hating how pathetic I sounded. Four days was for too long; there were way too many chances for me to chicken out and take back my words. "Are you sure?"

"No. I'm lying." She said dryly. "Four days. I'm sure we'll be in contact." With that she whisked away the now sleeping Mara, joining up with two men in black suits as she reached the door. I watched her say something to them and make a few hasty gestures in our direction before I turned back to Heero.

"We're leaving." I said decisively, in no mood for arguments. "Now."

Either he wanted to leave as well or he was too lazy to object because he did not resist. I didn't bother saying goodbye to Quatre and Trowa- I would be on the phone with one or the other later that night. Wu Fei was nowhere to be seen and anyone else was of no consequence at that point. I was barely keeping myself together as it was and I needed out, fast. Heero marched sullenly after me, his glare practically tangible against the back of my head.

This was going to be a _long_ night.

/**End Chapter Two, Inheritance**/


	4. Chapter Three

Author: Sparkle Itamashii

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

**Chapter Three**

The ride home was _hell_. There were so many things I wanted to say but not _one_ of them was I able to get past my lips. It was like my tongue had stuck to the roof of my mouth. My teeth felt glued together because my jaw was so tightly clenched against the roiling emotion that was just waiting to explode. I knew better than to go off on him in the car, where there was no escape. A cornered dog fights far more viciously than one that is left at least some small escape.

So we sat in stony silence the entire way.

I might as well have been driving a statue home for all that he even looked at me.

I didn't last long after we pulled into the driveway. As calmly as I could I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned off the engine. He moved sullenly, as if expecting me to start something right there where everyone and their dog could see us. Just for that I contained myself until we had stomped up the front walk, unlocked the house, and stepped inside. I could faintly hear Artemis barking from the backyard.

"When _exactly_ were you planning on telling _me_ about this?" I asked, slamming the door behind me and giving him a scathing glare.

He simply removed his shoes at the door and ignored me, moving into the kitchen. Not even bothering to switch to socks only like I normally would, I stormed after him. He couldn't ignore me forever but it looked like he was certainly going to make an attempt. He had pulled two glasses from the cupboard and was silently filling them with ice water. As if nothing was wrong.

He could be such a bastard sometimes…

"Well?" I demanded, growing impatient very quickly.

He gave me a level look, but I saw the defensive aggression boiling just below the surface. "If I'd known, I would have told you."

"How did you _miss_ the fact that you fucked Relena?" I exploded, "Weren't you there, or what?"

He slammed the glass down on the table so hard it's a miracle it didn't shatter and fixed me with a deadly glare. "That was _four years_ ago, Duo." He said icily. "Back when I didn't think I would see her again. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this. It was _goodbye_, if it was anything."

"Oh, that's all well and good then!" I huffed sarcastically, motioning dramatically with my hands. "You didn't say goodbye like that to anyone else, did you? Cause you _certainly_ didn't say goodbye like that to me!"

"Because I didn't say goodbye to you at all!" He snarled acidly. "I could part with her. You- never. Why the hell do you think I'm still here?!"

If anything that only made me angrier because there was no way to respond without making a complete ass of myself. "You weren't exactly searching for me when I found you, Heero." I hissed.

"Did you find me?" He asked almost rhetorically.

"Heero, that's-"

"_Did you find me_?" He repeated insistently.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "Yes, I found you."

"Then I didn't have to look for you because I'd never lost you." He said quietly, to which I could only glare sullenly directly at him. "It was four years ago, Duo. It's in the past. I loved Relena and I loved you." His eyes softened and he slid one of the glasses over to me. "I _still_ love you."

I grumpily accepted the water and took a gulp, trying to calm down now that the initial explosion had passed. "If she…" I said, more meekly than I would have liked, "if she'd shown up before me… Would you have stayed with her instead?"

A few seconds passed as he studied me and took a drink as well. I could see that he was shaking and I regretted upsetting the both of us so much. "No." He said finally, and just by his tone I believed him immediately. "She was never you, Duo. She never had the same sort of conviction, the same fire. I don't think she could have ever been everything that you are."

Sighing, I pulled a chair out from the cherry-wood table and flopped down in it. Heero was never one to lie about stuff like this so there was no reason for me not to believe his words. That knowledge didn't keep it from hurting, but it certainly lessened the blow considerably. I had no control over what Heero did before I'd practically claimed him- his past was not something that should affect the future. I took another drink of water and forced calm upon myself before I spoke again.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

He shook his head and took a seat as well, elbows on the table and hands drooping so his fingertips touched the rim of the glass. He didn't look at me. "Would it have made anything better, letting you know?" He asked quietly.

"Well, no." I admitted hesitantly.

"But it could have made things a lot worse."

I chewed on that for a few seconds before surrendering. "I guess that's true." I leaned back, trying to adjust the paradigms of my world to fit this whole new one. "Did you… know about her? The kid?"

Very quickly I wished I could have retracted those words. "I didn't know she'd had a child." I winced. He must have been feeling awful enough, not knowing something that important. "She didn't tell me."

There was something there, in his voice, something deeper than he was actually saying. Maybe he regretted not knowing? That wasn't it, though. It didn't sound like regret. It sounded like… Well it certainly wasn't something I had heard in Heero's voice before, which is probably why it took me a moment to place it, but…

It sounded like worry. Genuine fear.

Instantly I felt guilty. This wasn't the sort of situation anyone should have suddenly shoved upon them, especially not someone as ill equipped as Heero. I could probably stand to be a little nicer about it- after all I shouldn't be faulting him over the child if Relena had never told him.

"Heero, I'm sorry. It's just… a little shocking. I mean all of a sudden you have a kid." I made a sort of exasperated, disbelieving noise, as if saying it had suddenly made it all too real. "God… What _are_ we going to do about Mara?"

He gave me a funny look, as though I'd just suggested something really dumb. Why was everyone giving me that look today? "We can't keep it here." He said plainly.

"SHE, Heero. She's a little girl, not a machine. We're talking about a human life- your _child_. You can't just slap her up for adoption like a cat or dog."

"Why not?"

I gave him an incredulous look, sitting up in my chair as I did so. "What do you mean 'why not'? Are you crazy?"

"No, are you?" He countered, unaware of how he repeated Mara's words in the same tone she'd used earlier. He was still looking at me in that 'you've gone off the deep end' way. "Neither one of us knows even the first thing about taking care of a child. We'd probably kill it faster than you can blink!

"She; and what on earth do you think new parents do? They've gotta learn from somewhere. Don't tell me that with all your adaptability you can't train yourself to be a father instead of a soldier. Take it like just another mission if you have to but by GOD you are not going to let her go anywhere but right here with us."

"If you want this kid then _you_ can have it, but I _don't want it here_." I could tell he was getting upset with me and that if I pushed it too much farther it would turn into something nasty- I hated leaving things like that.

"Well it's a little _late_." I snapped testily. "Isn't it?"

I jumped when he stood, viciously snatching up his glass and depositing it so roughly in the sink that it cracked. He gave me a sharp look when he turned but he made no direct reply to what I had said. Instead he stalked past me, halting abruptly when he reached the doorframe. I sat very still, listening to him control his breathing and waiting for him to either explode or leave.

"It was four years ago." He hissed acidly. "I do not need this right now."

"Well when you're ready to deal with reality you just let me know." I responded without turning to him. "I'm calling them tonight and telling them we'll take her."

He made an angry noise and I could practically feel him biting back another nasty comment. Without further adieu he left, socks muffling the way he stomped his feet all the way down the hall and into our bedroom. Only when I knew he was out of range did I relax. He was always like that- so volatile. We rarely ever got into fights but when we did there was always that bit of fear that coiled in my gut.

Heero wasn't naturally violent- he was made to be that way, trained to fight and kill when he needed to. Unfortunately I had awakened the emotion in him as well and the two clashed horribly. Sometimes when he got really emotional, he didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to handle himself. So he let his training take over… only there-in laid the problem. Whereas he used to be more of a mechanical decision maker who made objective decisions, he now made them based on his emotional state. He could get violent without knowing or understanding why.

Don't get me wrong. He wasn't abusive- I wouldn't stay around for shit like that. I'm also not saying that he hasn't ever hit me or that I haven't hit him. We've gotten into it more than once over disagreements and I've ended up with a few bruises in my time. I couldn't blame him and I couldn't blame me- there was nothing to blame but our pasts. We both had experiences that wouldn't let us take life as peacefully as we would have liked, but we were both trying.

It just… scared me sometimes when he got angry like that.

Just because we fought didn't mean I had to like it. At all.

God, we were such fuck-ups sometimes. Did I really think we had any kind of environment for a child to be growing up around? I mean I could handle it if Heero got angry and turned on me but what about a little kid? I'd never seen him anything other than completely docile around children but… I hadn't seen him around many children. I had no idea how he would take something like that. It could go either way.

There was really only one way to find out.

Heaving a sigh, I rose and padded across the kitchen. My shoes clacked noisily on the tile as I stomped a little harder than I should have, reminding me that I still needed to remove them. It was curious how I resorted to doing the little, catty things I knew annoyed him. Half the time I bet I asked for whatever I received just as plainly as if I'd said it aloud.

The phone was missing from the cradle but it wasn't hard to find. I always wondered why it was that cordless phones were always just a couple feet away from being hung up. Would it seriously kill the person who was using it to walk an extra two steps to put it back on the base? At least it still had a charge so it wasn't like it was going to cut out in the middle of a conversation.

I dialed Quatre's number first. He sounded very busy even though he insisted that he wasn't and that he had the time to talk to me. I made it as short as possible, just enough time to get the phone number I wanted. Quatre didn't sound like he was going to let me off the phone, as stubborn as he was about maintaining friendships despite work, so I made it my own fault, telling him I really had to make this call before it got too late. Very reluctantly he let me go on the promise that I give him a call later that night to tell him how it went.

I don't know how long I sat on the edge of the couch, receiver clutched in a death grip between my knees and my head hung in thought. There was just so much riding on what I was about to do and without Heero's permission it was likely to blow up in my face. But I just couldn't let her go anywhere else- I couldn't let him give up his child to strangers. I knew no matter how much he hated it- or me- in the beginning, he would be grateful in the end.

Screwing up my courage, I dialed the phone and pressed it hard to my ear before I could really think about how I was actually doing it. Before the phone had even completed half a ring a lady on the other end picked up the phone and greeted me in a polite tone. I didn't have time to back out, even if I had wanted to.

"Good afternoon, New Life Adoption Agency. This is Linda speaking, how may I help you today?"

My brain came to a screeching half as soon as she said the word "adoption." What was I doing on the phone?! What does one say when they want to adopt a child- "You have a child and I want to adopt it. Help?" Should I even bother trying to sound professional or just go with telling the situation like it was and sound like the lost guy I really was?

"Do you have the child's name, sir?"

Name? I pulled the receiver away from my ear to give it a look. I felt like it had just bitten me. It was like she was psychic! I hadn't even had to- reality caught up with me and I realized I had actually said aloud what I had been thinking to say in my head. I felt like a real dumb-ass but there wasn't much I could do short of mysteriously hanging up and… well, I had already made it this far. I probably wouldn't have the balls to call back if I hung up now.

"Uh… Mara. Mara…" I repeated myself on the initial response to say her full name but realized that not everyone would realistically even _know_ her last name. If they were really trying to keep it under wraps about where she came from there was a good chance they'd have changed her last name, if it was ever Peacecraft to begin with.

I could practically feel her bristling when she next spoke. "How do you know of Mara, sir?"

Just barely stopping myself from saying 'I know her father,' I stumbled over my words to save face. "I kno-ew- I knew her mother. We were very good friends."

"I see." Though it really didn't sound like she believed me, "You will have to come down to our office for an interview before we can release the child to you. Are you aware that it will be some time before she can be taken into anyone's custody?"

"At least four days." I parroted from what I had heard the lady at the funeral tell me. Secretly I was amazed I had remembered even that much. "I know. When can we meet?"

I listened to her shuffle some paper on the other side and then there was a moment of silence. "Can you be here tomorrow at seven?"

"A.M.?"

"Yes."

Tomorrow at seven I knew I would have work to attend but no one really cared when or even if I showed up for it. I could easily skip to go to an interview. The problem would be getting Heero to go along with me… He hated missing work and it was always a hassle to get him to even leave early much less skip it entirely. I would have to handle it, though, because I knew trying to adopt Mara was going to be a difficult enough process even when we were going with the flow.

"Yeah, seven is fine. Can you please give me directions?" Normally I would have avoided the trouble of sounding like I had no plan by just calling Quatre for the information. However, with everything going on already I figured he was busy enough. I didn't need to add to that stress.

She gave me the information without seeming to think twice about it. Whatever else she was thinking she remained distantly polite, like it would be a danger to be friendly to someone inquiring about Mara. In retrospect, I'm glad she was that cautious. Any number of people could have had ill begotten information and had intent to harm her. We still didn't know why Relena had been assassinated so every precaution was justifiably being taken.

It still rankled being treated like a number instead of a name, though.

I carefully placed the receiver on the base, waiting until the little red light flickered and turned green before I let my head fall back onto the couch. Great. I'd set up an appointment to go meet these people. If I could convince Heero to act like a properly functioning individual we might even be able to take her home at the end of the four day period instead of having to wait even longer. Of course I would have to start child-proofing the house and pound it into Heero's skull that we were not going to be backing out of this. Hopefully through trying to convince him I could keep _myself_ from doubting.

I mean, come on. How hard can it be to raise a kid?

/**End Chapter Three, Inheritance**/

Notes:

Several reviews I received asked if Heero and Duo are 'together' or if they are simply roomies. I admit to being boggled that anyone would have to even ask until a good friend of mine cleared up why you might not quite see it. He said that readers are likely used to "seeing the boys all over each other" as opposed to how they might more realistically be together.

I look at their pasts and who they've evolved to in the series and… There's going to be a lot more conflict than most people realize. They are far, far from being properly functioning individuals and while I'm sure they've developed a deep affinity for one another there's hell to pay to keep it together. They're trying to go from a world where conflict was solved by blowing things up to a world where conflict needs to be worked through with emotion and words. Duo may be BETTER adapted than Heero but he's still far from being normal by any stretch of the imagination.

Contrary to popular belief… This story isn't really going to involve the kid very much. It's hard to explain without giving away the plot (trust me, there IS a plot) so I'm just going to have to ask that you trust me like you did with Through the Storm (if you read that). Like 'Storm' this is probably going to start off a little slower and as we go… hopefully you'll begin to catch the snippets of plot and when it hits… hold on tight cause it's going to be a wild little ride for our dear boys. I hope you enjoy!


	5. Chapter Four

Author: Sparkle Itamashii

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. See profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

**Chapter Four**

The adoption center really wasn't like what I expected it to be. I'm not really sure _what_ I expected it to be. I suppose I thought it would be like an orphanage or a nursery or something with a front room and a play area or… well, something. But I didn't see anything like that. There weren't any children at all. In fact, when I entered I felt like I was walking into a doctor's office. There were two people sitting nervously in the hard red chairs, alternately flipping through magazines and fidgeting. Heero gave them both a glare as though it were their fault he'd been dragged here.

Okay maybe I hadn't _dragged_ him here but it came pretty damn close.

I'd woken up half an hour earlier than he usually gets up only to find that… he was already awake. Half-dressed with only one leg in my pants I scrambled to our front room and dashed in front of the door at almost the same instant as Heero reached for the handle. I slammed the door just as he opened it and pressed myself against it, glaring at him and breathing hard. He glared stonily back, though the effect was somewhat lessened by the half-burnt piece of toast hanging from his mouth.

"Geph ou uf ie ay, uo." He attempted, finishing pulling his hand through his sleeve and switching his briefcase to his right hand.

"I'm not getting out of your way." I snorted, hiking my pants up and buttoning them without moving from my position. "We're going to the adoption agency."

"Oh, I'n noh."

"You agreed last night." I shot.

He shifted, pulling the piece of toast out of his mouth with his left hand. "When? I don't remember that." I gave him a flat look and realization almost visibly dawned on him. "_That_ does _not_ count as agreeing." He growled, reaching for the door handle again.

Grabbing at his hand, I positioned myself over the handle so he couldn't get to it without physically moving me. "Yes it does."

"I have work." He objected, snatching his hand back and giving me an offended glare.

"I called them last night."

"Do you even know where you are going?" His eyes narrowed and I could tell he was beginning to understand he'd been cornered. If I wasn't careful he'd snap.

I presented the piece of paper I'd grabbed from the nightstand and held it up for his inspection. "Directions."

"I'm not driving."

Taking his briefcase as collateral, I finished changing and forced him to have a real, sit down breakfast before we headed down to the agency's… headquarters? Home base? Main office? I didn't even know what it was, much less what to call it.

Just outside the door, he grabbed my arm. I halted, confused, but I decided not to say anything when I saw the way he was looking at the doors. I fell back a pace to stand beside him and let his hand slip down my arm. After a moment of silence he pulled his gaze away from the glass and looked me in the eyes.

"Please don't mention that I'm the father."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why not?"

"Do you trust me, Duo," He asked quietly, "because I'm going to have to ask that you trust me or I won't go in there."

Heero never really asked a lot from me. In fact, I don't recall him asking much of anything at all. Whatever I gave to him was usually what I chose to give. If all he wanted was for me to keep from mentioning that he was her biological father, I thought I could definitely handle that. After all, no one knew anyhow, right? I suppose it was a wise decision- if Relena's assassination wasn't just about Relena it wouldn't do for anyone to be given another target.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who'd thought to keep things low-profile. We'd waited only a few seconds, a phenomenon that seemed to greatly irritate the couple that had been waiting when we got there. They couldn't have understood why, but I did. People in waiting rooms tend to talk to anyone present in an attempt to ease the tension. If Mara was being kept a secret they wouldn't be taking a chance by letting it leak here.

Of course, they were being more than wary and it was pretty clear the lady we'd been brought to wasn't exactly keen on believing anything I had to say. She didn't say that outright but it was written all over in the way she held herself and the tone of voice that she used when replying to any remark I made.

"I know no one is supposed to adopt her for another three days. I understand that." I said patiently. "What I'm talking about is taking her _after_ those three days."

"You _do_ understand that this process takes more than a few days, don't you? There are all sorts of things- paperwork, house inspections, individual and couple interviews… They'll all have to be done before you can adopt any child."

"We're not talking about any child, we're talking about Mara." I ignored Heero's derisive snort. "Why can't we adopt her?"

"Right now the only one who could possibly take her would be her biological father and unfortunately no one seems to know who that is!"

I jumped at the mention but I kept my word to Heero about not mentioning that he was her real father. "But if you knew… she'd have to go to him, right?"

"If he could be found, yes," she said, a little puzzled. "None of the documents on Mara say anything about her father. There would have to be a DNA match or it would never go through."

"DNA?" I echoed, just as confused. I shifted uncomfortably and glanced to Heero, who was only glaring sullenly into space. Neither one of us had DNA on file anywhere. Somehow I doubted Heero would agree to take that trip. "Well, I mean… What if a document was found that just stated who it was?"

"I'm afraid only a DNA match will be sufficient."

"No tests." Heero hissed so only I could hear, shifting his glare to me. "So you can shove that idea."

I rolled my eyes and leaned over to speak quietly to him. "Well that's gonna have to be the plan." I said with exasperation. "It proves her father and then we take Mara home without a hassle."

"I don't _want_ to take it home," he growled, folding his arms across his chest and collapsing back into the chair like a petulant child. "What part of "no" don't you understand- the 'n' or the 'o'?"

By this time the lady was giving both of us an appalled stare. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, keeping control of myself. This visit was not going anything like I had been wishing for. I suppose there had been some small part of me that clung to the sliver of hope that if I could just get Heero _to_ the adoption agency that he would be able to behave himself and not cause a scene. Apparently I was expecting too much.

"Forgive us; He's just really nervous about all this. I mean first Relena dies and then we find out she had a child and then we were asked to take her and… well, I'm sure you can imagine that it is a little overwhelming.

"Bullshit." Heero quipped hotly. "I'm not overwhelmed. I don't want the kid living with us!"

"Heero!" I exclaimed, intending to prevent a tirade, but he spoke over me.

"Do you know how many guns we have in our house, ma'am?" He waited for her to nervously shake her head. "Twenty-five- six rifles, two shot-guns, and _seventeen_ hand guns. Do you know how many of them are locked up or have gun-locks on them? **_Not. One._**"

"Heero!" I gaped. I'd gotten to my feet halfway through his speech, nearly toppling my chair in my haste. "Cut it out!"

"No!" He snarled, getting to his feet and snatching his jacket from the back of his seat. "I don't know why I even came with you. This is stupid. We're leaving."

"I'm not going anywhere until you calm down." I said with an icy calm I didn't feel. When he got like this it scared me a little bit- reminded me a little too much of the war and how ruthless and cold he could be.

"I am calm." He hissed just as frigidly. "If you're not coming now you can walk home."

I don't know why Heero was being such an ass about this. He'd never shown evidence of _disliking_ children- one would think he would care even more when it came to his own flesh and blood. There was something I was missing- something _big_. The pieces of the puzzle just were not fitting together properly. Unfortunately without the whole picture I didn't stand a chance at understanding.

"If you leave without me, I won't have to because I won't be _coming_ home." I threatened defensively.

He grimaced at the words, searching me over for any sign that I didn't mean it. "You can't possibly be serious. Where would you go?"

It didn't even matter that we were still being observed by a horrified social worker. "You know I don't fucking lie, Heero. In case you've forgotten I can take care of myself in normal society, unlike some people." I snapped. Grabbing my own coat, I turned to face the wide-eyed lady behind the desk. "I apologize for our rude behavior. Thank you for your time."

Heero twitched his arm away when I reached for it to drag him from the room. We glared in a contest of wills for a single breath before I huffed and turned away again. I could hear him walking behind me. He still had a habit of never stomping his feet while wearing shoes- his training was too deeply ingrained in him to let go of that. I ignored the meek, startled stares we received as we exited the building.

"Heero." I halted the second we were outside and the door had closed behind me.

"Not now." He said tiredly, drained of the offensive anger from a few moments ago. "We need to talk but it can wait until we get home."

"No," I said quietly, wrapping my arms closely around my waist and reigning in my self control for what I was about to do. "It can't."

"What?" The doors clicking unlocked was like a thunderclap in the silence. "Just get in the car."

"I'm not getting in the car, Heero." I tried unsuccessfully to keep my voice from trembling. "You're angry and you're acting like a jerk."

He pulled the door open without taking his gaze from me. "So… what? You're going to stand there?"

"Until you calm down, yes. I just might." I said defensively.

For another few seconds he glared viciously at me and then he shook his head. "Fine, whatever. You can walk."

He dropped into the driver's seat and slammed the door. I waited until the engine roared to life and watched as he reversed, tearing out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. Yeah, definitely pissed. I sighed. Not like he hadn't done things like this before- he really was more like a little kid than he knew, throwing tantrums when he didn't get his way. Of course they were more violent, foul languaged tantrums than most two-year-olds could throw…

God, but I hadn't expected him to actually leave me here. We were what… nine or ten miles from home? Okay so it _was_ walking distance but I didn't want to have to walk it. Since I knew it was going to be useless and goal-defeating to call Heero and ask him to come back for me, that meant I was going to have to call someone else.

I dug into my pocket, glad that for once I hadn't left my cell phone in the car. As much as I hated to interrupt Quatre, I figured he would be the only one who would have a clue what to do now. Obviously my method wasn't working so it was time to change strategies and hope we hadn't left too much of a god-awful impression with this agency that they'd never let us bring Mara home.

"Quatre?" I asked timidly when he answered the phone. He sounded like he'd been sleeping. At noon?

"Duo! Did you go? How'd it go? Are they going to let you-"

"Hey, woah!" I exclaimed, not sure whether to be cheered by his enthusiasm or disheartened because we'd managed to fuck up even this simple task. "We went but it was horrible. I just got outside. Heero's a little… Well, what are you doing, anyway? Did I wake you?"

"Oh… a little. Not really. I was dozing. I just got back about an hour ago, had some lunch, and came up to take a break. Things were really hectic." I heard him shifting, probably laying back down to get comfortable. "Everything degenerated into everyone yelling at everyone else so I called it quits for the week. I'm really not up to dealing with who isn't satisfied with this or that for whatever dumb reason they've invented now."

I smiled faintly and moved to the side of the building, out of range of the wind. "Tough morning?"

"I'll be over it by dinner. So what are you guys going to do now?" He asked curiously.

"Well… Heero kind of took the car and I'm a little stranded at the adoption agency. I was hoping you'd either be able to come pick me up or send someone else…"

His wince was audible. "That bad?"

"Worse. I really need to talk to you face to face on this one, Quatre. I don't know what to do and I don't know if I can handle this. I know I can't alone."

"No, definitely. You shouldn't have to. I'll call someone in the area and have them pick you up as soon as possible. Do you need to get anything from your house?"

"Nah. Not for tonight. If I think of anything I'll go tomorrow while he's at work."

"Good thinking. Take care, I'll see you soon."

I hung up and leaned back against the brick of the building, letting my head crack softly against it as I closed my eyes. This was already turning into far too long of a day. Why wasn't anything ever just black and white easy anymore? Why was Heero making such a big deal about this?

/**End Chapter Four, Inheritance**/


	6. Chapter Five

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Five

* * *

**

For once in his life Quatre wasn't waiting around the entranceway for me when I arrived. I passed the maid at the door with a polite smile and a hasty excuse. She tried to detain me, saying that Quatre had asked not to be disturbed. She acted as if I would actually interrupt him if he was doing something important. Of course… her idea of important and my idea of important probably differed greatly.

When I knocked on the doorframe to his room, I got no response so I just gently pressed the door open and walked inside. I smiled, seeing him laying sideways on the bed, fast asleep. It was quite comical; he must have been sitting on the edge and laid back thinking he would just relax for a minute. God, he looked awful though, like he hadn't slept in weeks and he definitely didn't look like he'd been eating properly. I'm sure the Maguanacs were stressing themselves as well, being unable to do anything that would force Quatre to do either.

As I didn't want to wake him, I slipped off my shoes and traversed the room as silently as I was able. I gingerly sat on the edge of the bed but he appeared to be rather dead to the world. Jumping on the bed next to him probably wouldn't have woken him. The way I saw it I would let him sleep- we could always discuss everything tomorrow. I stretched out next to him and closed my eyes, thinking I would wake a nap (after all, I'd gotten up at an ungodly hour to beat Heero to the door) and get some dinner in a bit.

When I next opened my eyes morning light filtered through the curtained windows, bathing everything golden. I peered sleepily at Quatre, who was already awake beside me. As I reached up to rub groggily at my eye he glanced over, shifting so he could lie on his side and face me. He smiled and I relaxed, seeing a bit of the old Quatre returning. Sleep had definitely done him a world of good.

"You should have woken me, Quatre." I yawned, stretching out in the most deliciously pleasant way.

"I know but you looked like you could use the sleep." He replied lazily, propping his head on one hand. "I'm sorry I wasn't up to welcome you yesterday."

"Don't worry about it. You needed the sleep more than I did." I waved a hand dismissively at him. He always worried about the littlest things. "Did you think of anything?"

He made an indistinct noise and shook his head. "Maybe you should tell me the whole story. You weren't very clear on the phone."

Groaning, I closed my eyes and after only a moment of hesitation, launched into a detailed explanation of everything that had happened since Heero and I had left the funeral home the day before. Quatre, for his part, looked properly disgusted with Heero's attitude and behavior. He said very little, only stopping me for clarification. When I finished he shook his head and lay back, stretching out as well.

"All that and you… still think it is a good idea to let a kid live on the same continent as him?"

I scowled good naturedly at his sarcasm but he only grinned sympathetically. Sighing, I nodded. "I can't just back down now, right?" I asked quietly. "I mean we've come this far and if I don't get her then he's going to have won." I sat up a little to look him seriously in the eyes. "He's still… It's like he is still living in the war, Quatre. He can't let go of the past, even though things are different now. All that is the past."

"Are you sure it's really past?" He queried skeptically. "With Relena-" He closed his eyes, jaw clenching against the memory.

Involuntarily I mimicked his reaction. The loss of our friend was still to raw for us to gain any sort of proper distance from it. "I know. But I'm trying to just ignore that factor right now, since we don't have any information. Maybe when we know something more then I can deal with that aspect of the situation but right now…" I trailed off and shook my head. "There's too much else to handle."

"I'm sorry; you're right." He digressed. "So you want to adopt Mara, correct?"

"That's the plan but I'm pretty sure they won't let us have her after yesterday's display." I said, disheartened. "If Heero won't go in to get tested we can't prove he's the real father, either."

Quatre gave me a funny look, quite like the one I'd seen him use when I was being particularly dimwitted. "Who says he's got to go in to get tested?"

"The agency said that-"

"No, Duo." He grinned, cocking an eyebrow in an amused manner. "Who says he has to _go in_ to get tested…"

My eyes widened as realization dawned. "If we could get a biological sample from him… He wouldn't have to go anywhere."

"Exactly." He scrunched his nose as he thought. "So what's easy to get that has DNA?"

"Fingernails… Hair… Blood…" I ticked off materials on my fingers as I went.

"Uh… Well let's not try blood right away, shall we?" He replied with a hint of nervousness. "What else is there? Skin flakes, hair-"

"We got hair. What about saliva?" I grinned wickedly. "Or semen!"

Quatre finally laughed, whacking me across the chest without sitting. "Don't be crude." He chided, clearly not meaning it.

I curled up on my side and pillowed my head on my bent arm. "You really think he'd go for something like that?"

"As long as you're discreet it shouldn't be a problem." He gave me a mock appraising look and sighed hopelessly. "Although I suppose you're about as discreet as a raging bull in a china shop…" He smiled and I could see the seriousness creeping back into his features. "All you've got to do is prove he's the father. Then Mara is under your care and protection by default."

"You don't suppose Relena ever managed to get DNA from him, do you? Maybe squirreled away somewhere that only she knew the location…" I joked, grinning.

"Actually, that is entirely possible." He responded, much to my surprise.

I sat up, openly gawking. "What?"

With a shake of his head he smiled regretfully. "They're still going through her possessions and files. From what I understand she had Pagan scramble a lot of the paperwork, especially anything concerning Mara. Well you know how senile he's getting… If she did have records it might be _weeks_ before anyone else comes across them if he can't remember where they are."

"Haven't they found _anything_ yet?" I queried dubiously.

"Nothing useful." He huffed and looked over at me. "They haven't found any records for Mara at all. I'd suspect she wasn't really theirs except there's no way she can't be. Just looking at her you'd know."

"Why do you suppose she never told Heero?" I raised an eyebrow. "And how did _you_ manage to keep it a secret from both of us for three years?"

He winced. "I wondered when you were going to ask me about that." He said quietly. "I really thought you knew. Relena expressly asked that no one even breathe a word about Mara until she'd made the 'adoption' official. She didn't even want us to mention it among ourselves."

I puzzled over that for a few minutes before shifting to gaze up at the ceiling. "Why do you suppose she wanted everything to be so secret?" I mused. "I mean, I can understand that she'd want to keep it quiet but not telling Heero he was a father? Scrambling documents?" I scrunched my nose and rested my hands behind my head. "Did she… you know… leave a will or anything?"

Quatre made a noise of assent, leaving a moment before he tried to speak again. "According to Phil she did have a will. She had it drawn up when Mara was born, apparently. At her insistence, though, she retained the only copy."

"Let me guess… her copy is MIA."

"Bingo." He shook his head. "I don't understand why she was being so secretive, either. She was always careful but this borders on paranoia, you know?"

"Yeah. It's not like her at all." I tried to ignore the sinking feeling that crept slowly into my gut. Yeah, something was definitely up- first Heero was hiding things and now Relena had been as well. "You don't suppose she kept it from Heero and I so we'd stay together, do you?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "It's possible but not probable. She would have at least told Heero- you just don't leave people in the dark about kids."

"So you think there's another reason?"

"It could have been a matter of time, Duo. Maybe she was going to tell him when she told the rest of the world." He chuckled, but the noise held no humor. "None of us were particularly well adapted individuals when the war ended, if you recall. I'd have put Heero in charge of a cache of nuclear weapons before I'd have put him in charge of a baby."

"Che, touché." I acquiesced.

I'm sure I was the same way- put me at the controls of a mobile suit and even now I'd be perfectly at home but leave me alone with a child who needs to be taken care of and I'd probably have a nervous breakdown. Lord only knows why I was pushing to get this kid… I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it. But I guess… I had to try.

Technically I wasn't really a part of the situation, aside from being with Heero, so I shouldn't have had any sway. I had no right or legal claim to the child. I had no duty to protect her or take care of her or anything like that. I didn't owe her anything and even though Relena had been a close friend I wasn't the one who had a responsibility to look after her child now that she was gone. So why did I care?

I cared because Heero couldn't. When Heero loved something it was tough love, rough and ragged around the edges. It hurt. It wasn't clean and it was rarely pretty. He was raw inside and out, new to being human. When something got too close he lashed out at it and if it wanted to stay he let it. I wanted to see if I could change that, heal him. Make him care.

Aside from that, aside from wanting to help Heero I wanted to help myself. Heero may not have had a parental bone in his body but… well, I did. There was no way for me to have a kid with Heero- I would _never_ actually put a child through what Quatre had been through. Quatre had spent most of his life thinking he was just a test-tube baby and it practically ruined him. He's going to carry scars from those beliefs for the entire rest of his life. How could I do something like that and think it was okay?

This was different though.

Mara was 'real.' She was Heero's and that was enough for me and I couldn't honestly think of a person I would have chosen over Relena to be her mother. It pained me that she'd hid it from us but I knew I would get over that quick enough. Whatever the reason, I'm sure it was good. It had to be.

"Hey, Q?"

"Mmm?" He mumbled, already falling back asleep at my extended silence.

"Are you hungry?" I grinned. "Cause I'm starving and I need to get back home. Heero and I are going to have a _lot_ to talk about."

/**End Chapter Five, Inheritance**/

* * *


	7. Chapter Six

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Six

* * *

**

I'd thought if I could make it home before Heero that I could search the house over for some kind of DNA but I was wrong. There was nothing. I checked his hairbrush and pillow, scoured the bathroom for hair or nail, checked his facial razor for blood- zip, zero, _nothing_. I'd known Heero was particular but I guess I'd never really noticed just _how_ meticulous. I was tempted to think he didn't even shed skin, he was so neat!

After about three hours of searching I gave up, tossing myself down on the couch and flicking on the news. Heero would be home from work soon enough. It had to be easier to obtain a sample from him if he was here. Meanwhile I could catch up on what was going on in the rest of the world. One of us had to keep up with it.

That had always been something of a puzzle to me. As concerned as Heero was about everything that was happening, as paranoid as he was about something happening… he hardly ever watched the news. The only thing I could figure was that he knew I almost obsessively watched the news. Maybe he just expected me to tell him about anything really important.

One would imagine that Relena's murder would have caused more of a stir than it did but there was just no information. The same set of facts were being splashed across the front pages and the top stories since her death had been discovered. She'd been shot while shopping with her adopted daughter. No one knew who had done it, no one knew why. No one knew anything. The only new information was that they had officially put on a search, scouring the earth sphere and the colonies for any sort of clue.

What they'd found was a little more interesting than anything relating to Relena, even if it was still useless knowledge.

"-but specialists have not yet discovered a means of entry. The lab appears to be completely sealed, without openings. Sources tell us the land was leased to a scientist believed to have been involved in the development and creation of the Gundams."

I raised an eyebrow as I watched. Odd, that they had only just now found the lab. Then again I guess it wasn't so odd- they might not have needed anywhere especially large just to develop plans. I felt a little stupid as I continued watching. I'd never really thought about how long the war had been going on before we joined it. Apparently quite a few years, as the lab was reported as being built about twenty five years ago. The doctors could have been working together for five or six years before any of us had even been born!

Unfortunately it appeared that no one could get in, so it wasn't exactly world-breaking news, although it definitely made me think about the past, about the war. It was still difficult to live normally, even after almost four years. Everyone around us seemed able to adapt to peace- many people reveled in it. I can't say I blamed them. All I'd ever known in my life was war. I wasn't like some people; I couldn't remember anything else. There had to be folks out there who knew what peace was, people that could remember what the world had been like before the earth sphere and the colonies went to war. For them this was just a simple return to their former lives, not a complete displacement of everything they'd ever known.

I envied them but then again I didn't.

A part of me wished that I'd known a normal life; that I knew something to return to at the end. But there was a part of me that was grateful for my experiences. If I'd grown up like a normal person, in a world that wasn't torn by war, I don't think that I would have learned to appreciate life. I wouldn't be able to see the worth in the little things like how television shows had plots longer than the episode or two I'd caught on the run or the big white fluff-ball of a dog snoozing at my feet. I wouldn't have known how it felt to have my own real silverware, a bed to call my own for more than one or two nights, and more than a few articles of clothing. I wouldn't have been able to understand how good it felt to not have anyone out for my blood.

So in the end, I wouldn't change my past, even if I could.

When I looked up again, they had moved on to an interview with Dorothy Catalonia, about Relena's death; definitely something I could ignore. Strange- she had dropped and stayed out of the public eye for years now. Vaguely I remembered that she had spent a lot of time around Relena, but I wasn't sure that they'd actually been friends. From what she was saying, though, they had been; good ones. It was disappointing to realize just how much there was about Relena that I'd never known. It was worse that I knew now I would never have the chance.

By my feet, Artemis lifted her head, ears cocked forward. Someone was here and ten to one said it was Heero. I sighed, clicking off the television in the middle of a missing person report- some guy who hadn't been seen since the day of Relena's assassination. If I was right about whom it was, then I knew they wouldn't be finding him no matter how hard they looked. That's what you get for hurting people Heero loves, I guess. The thought brought a vague smile to my lips.

Artemis shot for the door when the handle turned, barking excitedly. I rose, tossing the remote onto the couch as I stretched. The door opened, creaking on its hinges. Artemis hopped around Heero, tail wagging furiously as he ran fingers down her back and scratched her ears. His eyes settled on me as he set down his briefcase.

"Duo?" He asked, slightly confused. "Where've you been?"

I gave him a completely unamused look. "I told you if you drove off I wouldn't come home. I went to Quatre's for the night when you left me at the agency."

Maybe I could guilt trip him into getting tested. It was worth a shot.

"You should have just gotten into the car." He said stonily, moving into the kitchen.

Then again, I suppose you have to have a conscience to be guilt tripped…

I let my knee buckle and followed him, trailing to a stop in the entrance. "Why are you being so weird about this, Heero?" I asked quietly, hoping that maybe he would take pity and inform me of whatever situation he had concocted in his brain. No doubt there was a hoard of paranoia rotting at his brain and I couldn't do anything until I had more specific knowledge of what sort. "Practically everyone has DNA on file, if that's what you're worried about. We're supposed to be normal citizens now, aren't we?"

Slamming the coffee mug he'd picked up onto the counter, he turned on me with a glare. "We are _not_ normal citizens now, Duo. We were _never_ normal anything and we _never will be_."

Though I wanted to be the civil one in this relationship, it was so damn hard when he got pissy. I was not someone who could just back down easily. "Are you saying that because we can't be normal or because you don't _want_ to be normal, Heero? What's going on right now, if we handle it correctly, is just going to take us one step further into leading a normal life and you're resisting like you're afraid that's actually going to happen."

"What is your _obsession_ with normalcy!" He snapped, turning from me again to pour rich black coffee into his cup. I wondered what he'd done the day before, when I wasn't home to pick up the pieces and keep both our lives in order. Would he make coffee on his own or just say screw it? What would he do without me here, if I left?

"I don't _care_ if it sounds obsessed, Heero. I want a normal life." I replied hotly. "I want a normal life _with you_. Can't you understand that?"

He closed his eyes, taking a breath and letting it out as though trying to calm himself. It was beautiful to see him make an effort. "Then why can't you have a normal life with me… with just me?" He whispered quietly. "I don't…" I saw his jaw clench and remained silent, immobile as I waited for him to find his words. "I love you, so much, Duo. I don't want to lose you."

"Lose…?" I trailed off, trying to comprehend what he was saying.

A moment later, however, it dawned on me- hit me like a ton of bricks, really. I felt really stupid for not seeing it earlier. Somewhere in that brain of his he thought that if a child came into the picture that somehow I would love him less, that I would not be there for him like I was now. For whatever reason, he believed that bringing a third person into the house would destroy what we had. Guilt crept over my skin, leaving a tingling spider-web feeling. I walked over to him, wrapping my arms around him from behind and tucking my nose into the crook of his neck so that my lips brushed the skin at the nape.

"I love you, Heero. Nothing is ever, ever going to change that. I'm not going to go away just because there's a kid in the house." I pressed my lips against the skin behind his ear, right where I knew it tickled. He tilted his head to avoid the touch with a small noise and turned in my arms to face me. "You know I'm not that easy to get rid of. Whatever danger you think there is… I'll take it."

"You don't understand." He said softly, kissing my forehead. "I wish I could explain…"

"It's okay." I replied gently, leaning full body against him and tilting my head back to rest my jaw upon his shoulder. "You owe Relena one, Heero, for not coming to the front about this sooner. At least let the kid stay a couple weeks." I brought my hands up, reaching to encircle his neck in an embrace. "If you still think it's a bad idea, we'll start looking for a new home."

As carefully and discreetly as I was able, I plucked a few hairs from the back of his head. With ever last fiber of my being I wished that just talking would convince Heero but years of experience had shown me better. If I wanted Heero to do what I wanted I had to be a manipulative bastard. Taking a couple of hairs was probably the least of the crazy things I had done in the past.

Unfortunately I was less discreet than I thought I was being. I guess Quatre was right- asking me to be discreet was like telling setting a raging bull loose in a china shop and telling it not to break anything. As soon as I had pulled those hairs he jerked back, bringing up a hand to touch where I'd plucked. I smiled as innocently as I could, giving him a slightly confused look.

"What's wrong?" I asked politely.

"Did you just pull my hair?" He asked, utterly confused as he stared at me, gingerly rubbing the back of his head.

"A little." I smirked, pinning the hair to the inside of my palm with my thumb and slipping it between my index and middle fingers to hide it as I pulled away again. "I couldn't help myself; you should go take a shower and wash it." I suggested helpfully, hoping that he would leave so that I could do something with the three or so hairs I'd taken. I had to put them away before he saw, until I could take them in and get them tested.

"Did you just pull _out_ hair, Duo?" He asked, eyes narrowing.

Damn, caught. This is one of those times where I began to wish that I could break my vows and tell a little white lie. Simply shaking my head and replying "no!" in a scandalized tone might have actually convinced him that I hadn't but I just… couldn't. Years and years and years of not lying, of protecting my morals through thick and thin wouldn't allow me to lie now.

"Maybe." I said neutrally. "Why would I do that, though?"

"Maybe because you're planning on taking them in and getting them tested for DNA _for_ me, just in case I was unwilling to comply to your verbal wishes?" He suggested, raising an eyebrow in a gesture of wry anger.

It was really too bad that the years I'd spent around him had taught him just as much about me as they had taught me about him.

I still had faster reflexes in social situations, however.

Without saying another word, I slipped out of his grasp and made a mad dash for the door. It took him only a split second to follow me as I dashed over the couch, landing like a cat on the other side. The hairs were still clutched tightly between my fingers. If I could just stash them- but I really didn't have time for that because instead of playing which-way-around-the-couch, the ever practical Heero had just leapt over the back as well, coming straight for me.

I yelped, taking half a bound for our shared bedroom before being tackled to the floor by him. Flailing as best I could, I managed to at least turn onto my stomach to fight him. Unfortunately he was still just a tiny bit stronger than me and managed to wrestle my hands above my head as he straddled my hips and pinned my legs with his ankles.

We were definitely in a position I can't say I would have minded on a normal day. However, it put me at a distinct disadvantage at the moment and knowing that he was already switching his hands to try to hold both my wrists was not helping me calm down. I squirmed, trying to get out from beneath him before he could open my clenched hand and retrieve the hairs but that only earned me pinched skin.

"If you'd just give up and hand them over this would go a lot easier for you." He growled in a low tone- one that said he wasn't quite yet serious about the situation and I still stood a chance.

"If you'd just give up and take her in this wouldn't be an issue, now would it?" I panted, bucking my hips in an attempt to throw him off. It worked less well then I'd hoped, only managing to settle him into an even more uncomfortable position.

With a wicked sort of smile, he managed to pry my fingers loose by pressing on my wrists until they began to lose feeling. I groaned, knowing that he was already winning even as my hands opened weakly.

"Aw, c'mon, Heero. That's no fair!" I complained gamely, "You know I'm just going to get up and chase you down once you've gotten them. It's not like you haven't got a whole head full of 'em, right?"

He tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow as he retrieved the hairs. "So are you saying I should shave my head?"

"Dear _God_, no!" I exclaimed hastily, instantly trying to imagine Heero with a shaved head and hating what I saw. No. Nothing was worth letting Heero shave his head. "Don't you _ever_ shave your head, Heero Yuy, or I'll disown you!"

He did the most unexpected thing, then- he laughed. A real, honest-to-god laugh from his heart. I stared at him for a second as though he'd turned into a goat, trying to decide what to do now. Part of me wanted to join in and part of me wanted to run like hell. Most of me, however, wanted those hairs back and his grip had loosened as he laughed so I tore my wrists out of his grip and made a grab for them.

Now, I've seen Heero in good spirits before in my life. True, those times were generally more rare, at least the genuine times, but I'd seen them probably more often than anyone else on the planet. When he gets happy he begins to do some really strange things. Paint the kitchen black to match my favorite color. Take apart the toaster and leave the pieces on my side of the bed to remind me we needed a new one. Sit in the backyard in the middle of winter and play ball with the dog; long after the dog had quit fetching the ball.

There was some kind of connection missing in his brain, I was sure, and for the life of me I was certain I would never figure out what it was. I didn't know what made him do things the way he did, instead of like normal people. Normal people would have gotten up and thrown the hairs away- or maybe burned them. Flushed them down the toilet. Something. Not Heero, though.

Without any warning, he pulled away from my grasping hand, leaned back on my hips… and whistled. In the other room I could hear Artemis giving up whatever she had been doing, hauling her great white body into our midst and staring at Heero expectantly. He smiled to me before laying the hairs on his palm and holding them out to her.

"Who's a good puppy?" he asked her in the same voice he used to ask her if she wanted to take a walk. Her tail started up and she moved forward to smother him and his hand with licking dog-kisses, effectively bringing and end to any plan I'd had for DNA testing. When he looked smugly back to me, I only gave him a flat look.

"That was totally cheating."

"Artemis is my loving friend and willing ally." He informed me in a 'you should know better' tone.

"Unwitting ally, maybe." I shot, bucking my hips in an attempt to throw him off so that I could get to my feet again. "She'd befriend anyone who pet her enough."

With a swift motion he released her and grabbed hold of my braid. My hands flew to the back of my head, worrying that he was going to pull, but he didn't. He very gently brushed the tip of it against my lips, smiling in a falsely polite manner.

"If you go after my hair again, I will go after yours. Are we clear?" He asked silkily, never losing eye contact with me. When I nodded just a fraction of an inch, he thumped a hand against my chest and rocked back on his ankles, pressing my thighs into the carpet as he stood and shook his head. "I'm not going in for a DNA test, Duo, and by the looks of it you're not going to get anything of me without my consent."

I let my head drop with a thunk onto the floor as he walked back to the kitchen. Artemis watched him for a second before licking my face and trotting after him. I could hear him whistling something to her as I let my eyes close. A smile stole over my features, though it was of the bittersweet variety. I knew I'd just lost but it was as amusing as hell to think about him being so cheerfully nasty about it and he'd never told me to stop entirely, so perhaps I hadn't quite lost completely.

After all, he'd only forbidden me from taking hairs and that still left all sorts of options.

* * *

/**End Chapter Six, Inheritance**/

* * *


	8. Chapter Seven

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing After Colony (AC) is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Seven

* * *

**

The day after the hair incident, I decided that things needed to get serious. Heero was being really weird about this whole child deal and every time I thought I had the 'why' figured out, he did something that crumbled my theories. If he wanted to keep that up that was fine- I could handle resistance as long as I knew it was going to be there. I was intelligent. I was inventive. I was creative.

I knew where the hardware store was.

I'd done a lot of handy work in my time. I'd built shelters from rubble on the L2 colony I started out living on and I'd made myself simple toys and gadgets while living at the Maxwell Church. Repairing gundams and rigging bombs and all sorts of technical and advanced things came to me almost naturally… But doorknobs weren't really all that advanced. It was like going into a firefight expecting machine guns and explosives and getting rocks thrown at your head.

Thankfully, unlike most men I know, I was able to repress my urge to say 'I can do it myself' and went to ask the neighbors if anyone knew how to change a lock. Naturally I didn't tell them that I was changing it to keep Heero from getting in the house until he agreed to go in and get tested, or at least until he gave me something I could take in and test. Somehow I thought that would be a little hard to explain and might freak out a few people I still wanted to be friends with…

I was kneeling on the ground, practically straddling the edge of the door as I screwed the last of the screws tightly into place when I heard Heero's car pull into the driveway. As quickly as possible, I swept the tools that were scattered over the floor out of the door's path and gave Heero a 'shit, I'm caught!' look. He raised an eyebrow as I closed the door and locked it, hoping it would hold. I watched through the peephole as he walked up the front steps, fumbling with his keys for the right one. My breath caught as he tried the key and realized it wasn't going to work.

"Duo." His voice was muffled through the wood. "Unlock the door." A pause… "What the hell- did you change the lock?"

I leaned my side against the cool, painted surface and smiled. "Yes." I was unable to keep the smirk out of my voice. "I've decided you're not coming back into this house until you agree to go in and get tested."

"Fine," he said, as though it didn't matter to him.

That threw me off for a second. "What- really!"

"No, you idiot," he growled, vigorously rattling the door handle as if it would magically unlock. "Now let me in."

Can't believe I fell for that one…

The doorknob jangled noisily beside me once more and then everything fell silent. After a moment, I began to worry and took another glance out the peephole to see what he was doing now. I was surprised to see him disappear from my sight, heading for the direction of his car. My initial reaction was to think he was leaving but another part of me said he was too stubborn to just give up like that. It occurred to me seconds later what he planned to do.

"Oh no you don't!" I huffed, shoving myself off the wall and darting for the back door.

Unfortunately my lapse of thought meant that he beat me. By the time I reached the back he was already closing the door and giving me a dry look. Artemis has slipped in around his calves. I'd locked her in the backyard while I worked on changing the lock. I trailed to a stop in the hallway and grinned at the two of them.

"Nice try." He said mockingly. "Better luck next time."

I tossed the screwdriver I was still holding at his head, knowing that he would catch it. "I'll get you, don't worry."

"I won't," he said, purposely bumping into me as he passed. "Any news?"

With a quick glance to the television in the other room, I shook my head. I'd left the news on to see if there was anything interesting but there didn't appear to be anything new- they'd been reporting the same stories as yesterday.

"Same old." I leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen and watched him get a glass of water; I hadn't made coffee. "No one can find Relena's murderer, Dorothy is making a very dramatic fuss over the whole thing, and Quatre has been trying to keep anyone from panicking about anything."

"Are they?" He asked curiously.

"Quatre's the one telling them not to- what do you think?" I replied smartly. "There's a lot of speculation about why she was killed, though." I said carefully, moving forward to relieve him of his briefcase. "Some of them are quite wild."

He trailed behind me as I moved to put his briefcase by the front door. "Wild?" He echoed, drinking.

"Yeah, you know- like, movie-weird kind of stuff. Scorned lovers, weapons of mass destruction, secret treasures, scandalous plots, hidden wills and members of the Peacecraft family- the whole lot is rubbish, of course. Well, mostly anyway."

"Mostly?"

I shrugged. "Well, there is Mara." He rolled his eyes. "But the rest, I mean… come on! Relena wasn't with anyone and she was a pacifist so she obviously wouldn't have had any sort of weapon. Secret treasures? Scandalous anything… It's so stupid."

"…Yeah," he said distractedly, "stupid." He ducked back into the kitchen, leaving me to stare blankly after him.

What was _that_ about?

I shrugged it off before I could start thinking very deeply about it. Heero was obviously still touchy about anything regarding Relena and I wasn't going to start any more fights than was necessary. Contrary to popular believe, I knew when to stop- I just often didn't.

"What did you want to do about dinner?" I called, rolling over the back of the couch to flop and stretch out in front of the television. Artemis huffed and flopped as well, lying on the floor beside my couch.

"I want to make some coffee." He knocked over something that sounded less than unbreakable.

Reaching down, I tangled fingers in Artemis' fur. "Coffee isn't dinner and can you please stop breaking things?"

"I'm not breaking anything," he snapped crankily. "I don't care- what do you want to do?"

Biting down on an inappropriate remark, I tried to think of something easy to make for food. "Tacos?" I suggested loudly, tuning out the news as it droned on about something on the colonies.

"Yuck."

"Stir fry?"

"Had it last night," he replied boredly.

"Crap." I'd completely forgotten we'd had it; Heero hated eating the same thing two nights in a row. Secretly so did I, after having to eat some of the same bland things for weeks at times. Variety was golden.

He poked his head into the room, over the edge of the couch to look at me. "Duo," he said very seriously, "we are not eating crap for dinner. Why don't you make chicken?"

Shifting so that I could make _sure_ he saw me roll my eyes, I grinned and agreed. Although making chicken would take longer than tacos or stir fry, the effort was usually well worth it. At least cooking would put me in a good mood and eating 'real' food might actually induce Heero to act less murderously cynical.

Groaning, I rolled off the couch and stepped over Artemis, who was still laying flopped on the floor at the base. She lifted her head and then hauled herself to her feet, padding after me. I pulled the bag of chicken from the fridge, where it had been thawing for tomorrow. I'd been planning for chicken pot pie but if I used the chicken now… then again, I had other things I needed to get from the store so I might as well get more meat while I was at it.

"Was there anything else said?" Heero asked nonchalantly, moving back to our original strand of conversation about the news.

I knew there was something else; something I'd heard and thought I needed to tell him but if I couldn't remember it couldn't have been all that important. "Not that I remember. Not in the news anyhow." I set the bag on the counter and flicked the switch for the coffee maker. It protested with a sickly gutter, but began to heat. "Quatre had some interesting things to say when I was over there." I hadn't had a chance to talk to Heero about anything yet.

"Is that where you went?" I smiled at the almost malicious curiosity in his voice. Reaching over, I filled the machine and let it open. Thick black coffee poured off into the container at the bottom.

"Yes and before you say anything further, nothing happened. He _did_ say, however, that there were records of Relena having drawn up a will. No one's been able to find it."

"Pagan doesn't know where it is?" His eyes were trained on the coffee maker as I turned my own attention to the cutting board.

I kicked the trash can over so I could drop things into it as I worked. "If he does, he isn't saying." I replied, selecting a knife and beginning to cut off the excess fat from the chicken. That was probably my least favorite activity ever… "Quatre says he thinks there may have been things about Mara in it. You know, stuff left to her or appointed legal guardianship, maybe where she is supposed to go."

"Not here," he grumbled testily.

I sighed, not wanting to argue with him about this again. If I started I was going to bring up the adoption center visit and that wouldn't be a pretty fight. "I don't see why you're tossing such a big hissy fit over this, Heero." I told him calmly.

"Little kids are a _huge_ responsibility, Duo!" He protested vehemently. If looks were tangible I knew I would feel his glare boring into the back of my skull and ignored it. "Keeping one is probably a million times worse than taking care of a dog or cat!"

"Like _you_ know anything about _childcare_." I snapped, reigning in my voice again at the end and trying to continue as placidly as I could. "You probably know even less than me!"

"Exactly!" He exclaimed irritably. "Tell me even _one time_, Duo, just _once_ when you went into a situation this unprepared and felt the least bit comfortable that you'd make it alive? You don't go on missions without the fact and accepting this thing into our house amounts to the same result."

Although the argument rang true enough, it was hollow. It lacked conviction. He was speaking words he didn't mean, regardless of how right they sounded. It was like he was trying to cover up something else, something he didn't want to me know. I mulled over his words for a few minutes, slicing off bits of fat from the chicken breasts. Beside me, Artemis gave me puppy eyes until I surrendered and offered bits of fat scraps. There had to be something I was missing.

Think- what was he really trying to say?

Okay, he was treating this like a mission. Accepting or rejecting a mission was a matter of knowing whether or not you could succeed. If there was even the tiniest chance at success you could accept the mission, as long as the cause was something you believed in strongly enough. The only reason most people turned down missions was fear of failure but that was the last thing Heero would ever suffer from…. Right?

I glanced over my shoulder at him, brow furrowed in thought. Was he afraid he would fail, then? Raising a kid couldn't possibly be harder than any of the other trials we'd been through but there was a distinct difference between then and now. The cost of losing this time was different. It wasn't just our lives and it wasn't to stop a war.

"Are you afraid you won't be able to handle it?" I asked softly.

"No," he snapped nastily, "I am not afraid."

Sighing, I reached into the cupboard and pulled down a plate. "That's not how you're acting, if you ask me."

"Well I didn't ask you, did I," he growled. I winced internally as I heard his chair scrape against the tile. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, Duo."

"That's too bad, because I do." I began placing the chicken on the plate, trying to ignore the urge to turn around and face him. I didn't want to see that glare and I didn't want to present a target. Past experience had taught me that he wouldn't take any sort of action behind someone's back- at least that moral had stuck to him. "You can't just keep running from everything. You've got a responsibility to that child whether you like it or not."

"Why are you doing this?" The desperation in his voice was well hidden but I knew him and I knew the tiny inflection that meant he'd reached the end of knowing what to do. I trampled the urge to let him have his way, to give in and let him do what he wanted. "Don't you get it? If it comes here everything is going to be just… it's going to be ruined. Everything is going to be destroyed."

I let out a silent breath and closed my eyes, trying not to let his tone bother me. I had to be strong about this. "I understand that you feel that way but… we can survive anything, Heero. Look at our lives before this. Having a kid in the house isn't going to ruin us because there is nothing _anywhere_ strong enough to do that if we don't let it." I picked up the knife and scraped the fat to the edge of the cutting board with it.

"And if I let it?"

Anger flared up in me and I gave in at last. "What do you mean, if you let it!" Turning around and gesturing at him with knife in hand, I'd intended to reprimand him about saying such stupid things but…

I stopped cold when I realized how close he was.

When I hadn't been paying attention he had crossed the room and was standing about a foot away from me. I dropped my gaze, following his line of sight to settle upon his forearm. My sharp gesture had laid his skin open in a long, shallow gash. Blood oozed from the new wound, clear red staining the blade of the knife in my hand. I met his eyes, trying to think of something to say as all coherent words left me.

His eyes narrowed and he reached for the knife.

* * *

/**End Chapter Seven, Inheritance**/

* * *


	9. Chapter Eight

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Eight

* * *

**

Instinct and trained reaction both kicked in at the same time when Heero made a grab for my knife. In a fight you _never_ let the enemy have your weapon and… well, Heero was fucking scary when he wielded knives. No one in their right mind would willfully let him have one if they could help it- especially not me. So instead of surrendering my weapon to my pissed-off opponent, I let my legs buckle and dropped out of reach. With a hiss of pain he snapped his hand away from me.

I rolled and got to my feet as quickly as possible, facing him with wide eyes. I was too stunned to feel anything but shock and my heart was kicking wildly against my chest, making it hard to breathe. "I'm sorry!" I blurted, before I could think of anything more intelligent to say.

"Like hell you are." He growled, pressing the palm of one hand to the palm of the other. Blood leaked out around the edges of his grasp.

My stomach lurched at the sight of it, though I wasn't sure if it was the blood or the fact that I'd actually hurt him. It brought me around and I suddenly realized what was going on as my brain caught up with the rest of me. I'd really cut him. Twice. We'd gotten into spats before this but neither of us had been armed. Neither of us had gotten hurt for real. Not like that.

"Oh god, Heero," I breathed, my hand trembling as I stared at his hand, "I didn't mean- are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Somehow Heero managed to make 'fine' sound like 'when I get my hands on you I'm going to take that knife and shove it down your throat'. "Or I will be when you give me the knife."

Yeah right, good try. "Calm down and _maybe_ I'll give it to you." I said cautiously. I hadn't cut him on purpose either time but I was pretty sure he wouldn't afford me the same mercy right now. When Heero got pissed he fought dirty and I'd been on the wrong end of his wrath before today. I knew better.

He glared fiercely for a second before relaxing back half a step and offering a blatantly false peace. "I am calm." Very carefully he drew a controlled breath and let it out before extending his hand. "Give me the knife."

"You are _so_ bad at lying, you know?" I swallowed nervously, knowing that I sounded a lot more confident than I felt. He made a half-hearted attempt to take the knife and I ducked away again, finding myself back against the counter.

As much as I hate to admit this, Heero was better at fighting than I could ever hope to be. He was acting calm now but all I had to do was look at his eyes to know that the second I got close enough he would go after me. Maybe if I could just convince him I wasn't going to do it again…

"I didn't do it on purpose," I entreated gently, making as though to put my knife on the counter top. It was only as I did so that I noticed how tightly I'd been holding it. My fingers had cramped around it, knuckles turning vaguely white.

"You expect me to believe you didn't do this on purpose? How much blood is on the knife? Enough for a DNA test?" He replied stonily. I watched warily as he took a controlled breath and straightened. I could almost believe he was calming down now. "Don't lie to me."

My eyes narrowed at the accusation. He knew damn well I didn't lie, especially not about something trivial and _especially_ not to him. _Never_ to him. "Go to hell." I said scathingly, giving up the notion of setting the knife down for him. "I wasn't even thinking about that."

Truthfully, I hadn't been but now that he mentioned it… that was a very good idea; in the 'this is the most horribly stupid idea I've ever had' sort of way. There might not have been enough from the first cut on his arm but the blade definitely shone with red at the edges from the second laceration. It would be more than enough…

But that still didn't mean I'd done it on purpose.

Yeah, I was determined to get DNA but I wasn't stupid.

It pissed me off that he thought I was. It pissed me off more to think that he knew I wasn't and was only saying it to get under my skin, which was a more likely option. Heero was like that a lot of time; he knew exactly what was going on and chose the words that would raise the most reaction, good or bad.

"You know I didn't do it on purpose," I continued testily when he didn't respond. "_You_ were standing too close when I turned and then _you_ made a grab for the knife." My words sounded clipped with anger and I knew he heard the change in tone clearly because he stopped moving as well. Things were getting too serious.

"_Don't_ make this out to be my fault." He snapped in return, standing stock still only a few feet from me. "Give it to me."

Extending one hand, he looked me directly in the eyes and I knew that he was calming down; he knew I hadn't done it on purpose but there was no way he could back down without admitting he was wrong. We both knew he wouldn't do that and I didn't expect him to, quite honestly. I'd have thought something was wrong if he'd done something like that. He was expecting me to do something to alleviate the seriousness of the situation, just like I always did.

"Why; so you can clean it?" I returned mockingly and the ire had left my voice as well. I froze up as soon as the words left my mouth, eyes widening. My gaze dropped suddenly to the knife as I realized what I'd just said.

Clean it…

I glanced to the very raw chicken still sitting on the counter.

Aw, fuck.

But… that did give me an idea.

"Heero, listen." I told him, holding up my hands in surrender at last and moving away from the sink. No stand off was worth letting him get salmonella poisoning; especially not on his hand. I liked his hands. I liked them a lot. "You've got to get those cuts cleaned right now. I didn't clean the knife after cutting the chicken."

He looked to his still bleeding hand and seemed to take a moment to consider my words before acquiescing to the fact that the wounds _did_ need some sort of attention. Keeping his eyes on me, he closed the distance to the sink. I moved so that I was a fair enough distance away from him and watched him turn on the water. As soon as he reached for the soap, though, he took his gaze off of me.

Perfect.

While he was distracted washing his hands I could safely escape with the knife.

It was a golden opportunity, so I took it.

Of course it was a horrible idea to try.

Everything happened so fast that I barely had time for a reaction. The second I thought he was distracted I made a dash for the exit but in that same moment he grabbed another knife from the counter and latched onto my arm. I recoiled as best I could, hoping to drop away again but his grip was too strong. I faintly registered the fact that Artemis was cowering under the kitchen table still, watching her masters fight. The base of my spine banged sharply against the edge of the table as I suddenly found myself flat on my back atop it. I closed my eyes as I saw the knife descend, flinched when I heard the solid thunk of it embedding… into wood.

Slowly, I opened my eyes.

The handle of the knife wavered beside me to my left, looming into my vision from next to my jaw. It was sunk deep into the table, pinning me through the cloth of my shirt, right by the crook of my neck. I choked as I took a breath, trying to start my systems up again from the automatic, terrified shut down I'd just experienced. Adrenaline coursed in my blood so heavily that I swore I could feel it- I could certainly hear the blood rushing past my ears and my panicked heartbeat was practically thunder all around me.

Heero's fingers wrapped around my right hand, prying at the death-grip I still had on my knife. I almost instinctually responded by struggling away as I turned to face him. The knife at my shoulder bit into my flesh, sending an electric, stinging sensation all down my arm. I cried out, jerking away from the source of pain and reaching over with my right hand to yank the knife out of the table to avoid a repeat performance.

"You know, screw you, man." I griped, irritated but feeling strangely safer now that Heero had what he wanted. Glaring over to him, I raised an eyebrow at the blood smeared on his uninjured hand. He must have turned on me without even touching the soap. "What's your problem?"

"You're my problem." He growled, wiping the sides of the blade on his thigh; it left a thin line of red-brown as it seeped into the cloth. A second later he wiped his hands on his pants as well, leaving bloody handprints. Great. He would probably insist on doing laundry, too.

"I'll give you a _problem_." I mock-threatened, still irritated as I sat up, wincing at the cramping pain that tingled along my spine. With my free hand I made a half-hearted jab in his direction but he easily dodged, even though he hadn't been looking at me. As he dropped into an en guard stance with his pilfered knife, I raised one eyebrow and managed a breathy chuckle. "What are you doing?"

"I've had enough being attacked for one day."

Forcing myself to relax, I nodded. Okay, I could follow that path. He was done fighting and I was done fighting back. Things like this between us- fights, I mean- often ended this way; abruptly. I knew how he would handle it; he would pretend that nothing had happened and I would go along with it and we would be as normal as we ever were until the next time. I was used to that sort of reaction by now. It was a part of Heero and as much as I hate to admit it… well, it's a part of me, too. More often than not I'd rather ignore a problem or make light of a situation than face it and risk worse things happening.

"You and me both." I said lazily, as my irritation faded to simple weariness. Trying to see my shoulder while dabbing gingerly at the slice with two fingers, I shook my head. "Marring a perfect being like me should be an offense punishable by death. I should have your hide for this, you know." I joked quietly, pulling my shirt collar down enough to get a good look. "Shit, I'm really bleeding…"

"Stop whining and go do something about it."

He was staring at my shoulder when he said it, more than likely assessing the wound and coming to the same conclusion I had- I'd been hurt worse in the past. I closed my eyes against the memory of being locked in a cell, beaten and broken. Past was past, I reminded myself. What mattered was fixing things now.

"Fine," I responded, tucking my left arm close to my body so I wouldn't move my shoulder. With a small smile I headed for the bathroom.

On my way past him I considered lightening the mood just a little more. Containing a laugh, I flicked my hand out and tried to smack him on the ass with the flat of the knife. Almost as if he'd predicted I would do something, he turned away my knife with his own and slapped my hand for trying. That was better. He was definitely a lot less tense now- hadn't even tried to break skin. I hissed and jerked away, still grinning.

"Don't make me kick your ass." A smirk snuck onto his lips. "Again."

I struck out with the knife in an easy arc and he caught me halfway with a clatter of metal. "Wash your hand, stupid." I stared at him for a second before shrugging and giving him a more concerned look. "You should probably get it checked anyhow."

"You worry too much," he said, heading for the sink again. "I'm fine."

"What if I slice you up a little more?" I suggested cheekily, dogging after him. Yeah, he was definitely acting more like himself- irritated but tolerant. I fully expected a 'shut up' any time now. "Would you come with me then?"

"Where?" He asked, batting at me with his knife in a half-hearted attempt to get me to listen to him and leave.

I knocked his knife back as if I'd seen it coming, and huffed. "Where do you think? Doctor's office. What if you get salmonella poisoning? What if it infects your whole hand and it falls off and- ah!" I dodged as he stabbed at me and gave me a look that told me exactly how insanely stupid he thought I was. "What! It could happen!"

"Do you even know what salmonella is?" He asked, exasperated.

"…Yes." He cocked an eyebrow and I rolled my eyes. "No, not really. But I know it's not good!"

"If you're so worried, go get a band-aid, right?"

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow as I glanced over his shoulder to the gash that went clear across his palm. The silver of the sink was stained with red as he washed it. "Heero, band-aids are not- shouldn't you get stitches or something?"

"Will you shut up if I do?"

"Yes." I responded instantly. I hid a smile at the way he finally did tell me to shut up, just like I'd expected.

"Fine. Go get some gauze from the bathroom and I'll get the keys." As soon as the words were out of his mouth I darted for the bathroom so that he wouldn't see me grinning.

Score! As far as I knew, Heero had never been to a real hospital before in his life. Hell, I'd watched him set his own broken leg- what use did he have for doctors? I'm sure he _could_ have fixed this ourselves, but why would I let him do that? If the office saw us they'd have to put us on record and what Heero didn't know was that it entailed a blood test. Maybe a long time ago they'd have needed a lot of blood but they didn't need much now. They'd have enough just cleaning his cut.

I was pulling a container of bandages out of the cupboard beneath the bathroom sink when I heard the doorbell ring. Confused, I rose and stuck my head out the door, looking down the hall to where Heero was emerging from the kitchen. He shot me a look asking if I'd invited anyone over and I shook my head. As far as I knew we weren't expecting company.

His brow furrowed and he shuffled the towel in his hand so that he could reach for the handle with his uninjured one. After peeking through the peephole, he glanced back to me again for a split second. The click of the door unlocking was too loud in the complete silence.

**

* * *

/End Chapter Eight, Inheritance/**

* * *


	10. Chapter Nine

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inhertiance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Nine

* * *

**

I moved forward as he slowly drew open the door. At first I thought it had to be one of our neighbors but I certainly didn't recognize the small, nervous lady fidgeting on our doorstep. She was dressed in a clean white blouse and a riveted blue skirt that hung just past her knees. Perched on her nose was a pair of thick rimmed glasses with one of those decorated bead chains attached to the arms so that she could take them off and let them hand around her neck. She was too… pristine to be one of our neighbors here for a casual visit. As soon as she saw us she snapped to attention and smiled.

"Hello, my name is- oh my!" She exclaimed, interrupting herself as her mind caught up with the rest of her senses. I suppose we did make quite a sight- I could feel blood still seeping into my shirt from my shoulder and Heero was idly trying to stop his palm from bleeding while he listened to her. "Are you all right?"

"Fine." Heero clipped out, his jaw twitching as he clenched it against being nasty without reason. He hated unexpected company. "Can we help you?"

Her eyes widened a little bit more at his short tone so that the whites showed all the way 'round. I followed her gaze to my shoulder before covering the tear with one hand and forcing her attention back to my face. "Well I- I mean, that looks rather- I hope you'll excuse me-"

With a wave of my hand I quieted her and glanced to Heero. "Have you got the keys?" He nodded and I turned back to the lady. "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

"Linda…" She sounded as though she was on a different planet. Shaking her head, she turned her confused attention to me.

Smiling, I kept my left arm close to my body so I wouldn't move it and shook her hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Linda." She gave our hands a very confused look as though she'd never seen a handshake before. "Is there any chance this can wait?"

"Well I-"

"Maybe we can buy something later?" I smiled in Heero's direction and he rolled his eyes. I was taking too long for his tastes and I knew if I didn't wrap it up soon he was going to do it for me. "We were just on our way to the emergency room, weren't we Heero?" He gave me a sulky look before nodding in agreement. Turning back to her, I offered an apologetic look.

"Sir, I'm not selling-" She cut herself off and almost tangibly switched into a more serious mode. "I'm here about Mara. I'm looking for Duo Maxwell, sir. He's registered with the agency and-"

Without waiting for her to finish or allowing me to say anything, Heero grabbed me around the arm and stepped outside. "Find someone else." He hissed angrily at her as he passed.

"Someone else- but, sir-" The lady backed away as the door slammed and Heero began to haul me down the front walk. Aw, shit. He must have forgotten about Mara for a minute and that stupid lady had to go and remind him…

"We don't want it here." He called over his shoulder as we left.

"Don't want….?" She sounded as though the concept was completely foreign.

"We do!" I contradicted, the last word coming out a little strangled as it turned into a noise of pain. "Heero, let go; you're hurting me!" I snapped, yanking my arm away from him. "I'll call!" I clambered into the car just as Heero was pulling the keys from his pocket. "What's your problem today?"

"You just don't get it, do you…" He growled, shoving the keys roughly into the ignition and starting the car. "You just…" The lady was still standing a bit dumbfounded on our front porch. "You registered? With _them_?" He said the last word with so much disgust I was almost afraid to answer affirmatively.

"Of course I did; I couldn't have gotten an interview if I hadn't!" I said defensively after a moment, though I made sure to keep any sort of anger out of my voice. I didn't want another fight- not now. "I didn't think they would come to the house unless I told them it was okay."

We backed down the driveway and I glanced back toward the house, unsure if it was really okay to just leave that lady standing there. I was sure she would report it to the agency if nothing else and we hadn't locked the door. If she left there was no one there so someone could break in very easily… but then again we lived in a safe enough neighborhood. Hell, Mrs. Patterson from across the street had reported me when I'd come home late one night, saying there was 'some suspicious guy' trying to get into our house.

Settling back and pressing my hand over my still throbbing shoulder, I sighed. "Where are we going?"

"Emergency room on Third." He said thoughtfully after a moment.

"Wha- we're still going?" I asked almost sitting up in surprise. I'd thought for sure… but I wasn't about to protest. "I mean, that's good. I'm glad." I sank back into the seat again. "My shoulder does hurt." Shifting so I could glance over, I gave him a curious look. "Did you sharpen those knives or something?"

I saw the corner of his mouth twitch and I rolled my eyes. Why did I even bother asking? Of course he'd sharpened the knives. He'd probably cleaned all the guns recently, too, even though we hadn't touched them for real in quite a while.

The suburbs flickered by outside my window, my forehead resting gently against the glass. My brain rattled around in my head as we drove and the glass moved but I didn't really care. It kept me from thinking about any one thing for too long. There was just too much of everything; Relena and her kid, fighting with Heero, keeping everything together properly while trying to live life… I guess I just needed to take a time out for a while and organize the facts so I could understand everything.

I think the biggest problem at the moment was that a part of me felt that Heero was lying, leaving something out; that he was only telling partial truths. While he wasn't as extreme as I was in not outright lying, he still didn't like to do it and if he could avoid it, he did. The problem with not lying like that is that you have to figure out how to be creative with the truth. There are always ways around telling people the whole truth; the truth they are looking for. It's human nature to assume what seems most likely, given the information they have. Or at least… the information they think they have.

Implication was one of the best tools and Heero had used it shamelessly in the past. I'd watched him do it to people on more than one occasion. Humans want to make sense of their world. They rationalize and always try to figure out what's between the lines, instead of taking things at face value.

In normal society that probably worked wonderfully but not when you were dealing with me and not when you were dealing with Heero. Neither of us, I think, felt badly about implying something when we knew our audience would assume something we didn't mean. I guess I kept hoping they'd learn their lesson. I'd learned mine; I knew when someone was trying to get me to think one thing while they meant another and I had that horrible gut feeling that Heero was trying to do just that.

I wouldn't have thought of it if that lady hadn't shown up and confronted us, however timidly. Lost in thought it finally occurred to me why I'd been feeling that sort of unease when talking to Heero about this whole situation. I began to understand something I had missed; or at least I _thought_ I understood. If I was right, though, it would open up a whole new can of worms…

"Hey… Heero?" I asked quietly, not bothering to turn to face him because I didn't want to lose my nerve. "You want her, don't you?" I heard him open his mouth to protest and so I continued talking right over him. "You haven't said you don't want her, you know. You've just been saying that she 'can't stay here' or that you don't want her 'living with us' but I can't remember you saying you didn't want her."

He didn't respond to that and quite honestly I didn't expect him to. I was right and he knew it and I knew I'd just happened upon the real problem. For whatever reason he must really have wanted Mara but he had gotten the impression that she couldn't stay with us. As much as I wish I did, I didn't know what he was thinking and there was no way to ask that he would just up and tell me. He didn't do things like that; if he wanted me to know, or at least if he was going to let me know, he would have already told me.

I pushed those thoughts to the back of my head because they hurt. I felt like an ass, pushing the matter with him any further and if I continued thinking about it I knew I would say something stupid. I didn't want to have anything else to regret right now so I exercised what little good judgment I seemed to have and kept my mouth shut.

It wasn't much farther to the hospital so luckily the awkward silence following my out loud realization was short. When we got inside there was hardly anyone there. I motioned for Heero to take a seat and approached the counter. The secretary took down my and Heero's names and handed me a clipboard with a few pages attached. I nodded my thanks and snatched a pen from the cup by the window, taking a seat near Heero.

Slowly I filled out the forms I'd been given, glad that I'd injured my left shoulder so that I could still write. Beside me Heero had assumed a watch position, almost as if he were guarding the two of us from danger. Somehow I didn't think the knitting grandmother across the room _or_ the little kid playing with a magazine on the floor were going to be much of a threat.

I turned my attention fully to the forms, feeling sad at the realization that half the questions had no answer. I didn't know my family's medical history and I didn't have medical records of my own. I know Heero didn't have either of those things, either, and as far as I knew neither of us had been afflicted with any sort of genetic disorder. There was actually precious little I knew about myself and I couldn't help feeling down about it.

Thankfully I wasn't permitted to dwell on it for very long. Less than five minutes after I sat we were beckoned into the back area. A little old lady with bifocal glasses and a sweet smile ushered us into a room. She disappeared after assuring us that someone would be in to help us in a few minutes. As soon as she was gone I hopped up on the tissue paper covered table and swung my feet like a little kid, glancing around the pristine room.

I'd forgotten how much I hated rooms like that; rooms that were clean and white and pure. Rooms that had forgotten what real blood and war and death were like. Rooms that made me feel dirty just being in them, as though I were going to irrevocably taint everything nearby just by existing in the same place at the same time. I could take a million showers and be the cleanest person on the face of the planet and walk into a room like this still feeling like I'd just been rolling in mud.

A doctor entered before I could resume the last bits of paperwork. He was a thickly built man with sharp green eyes and a perpetual scowl. His long white coat brushed against his calves and he held a clipboard similar to my own in his meaty hands. Giving both of us a cursory once over, he lay the clipboard on the table and approached me. I smiled when I heard Heero growl, but he let the doctor examine my shoulder.

"Can you tell me what happened, Mr. … Maxwell?" His eyes flickered to the pages I'd watched the secretary filling out a few minutes ago and I nodded.

"I was making chicken and I had an accident in the kitchen." I said politely.

"Both of you…?" I contained a wince at his tone. It was very clear that he didn't believe me for a second but he also seemed like he was willing to let it go if I was willing to keep up the act.

"Yes, sir. Both of us." Well it _was_ an accident…

"I see." He said flatly, taking a step back. "Shirt off." He glanced to Heero, who was looking very much like a ruffled dog. "Please have a seat."

Smiling in reassurance to Heero, I stripped off my shirt and presented my shoulder to the doctor. He opened the cupboard over the sink and pulled out a couple of things, laying them beside me. I was surprised at how quickly he picked at the wounds and then swabbed them clean. I swallowed when I saw that both my shoulder and Heero's hand had begun to bleed again because he was being less than gentle. It was truly fascinating to see him apply the liquid stitches to the lacerations; he just squeezed it on and it smoothed out over my skin. I could feel it seeping into the cut, cold and soothing. He did the same for Heero, although he actually put Heero's hand in a strange semi-brace to keep him from bending it too much.

Thankfully I was able to convince Heero to go get the car from the parking lot and pull into the circle drive by the entrance while I paid for the visit. That gave me a chance to finish the paperwork and turn it in properly. The secretary was very helpful and she even gave me a sucker. I laughed and accepted it, feeling quite a bit like I was doing something I shouldn't.

I was just getting to the exit when my phone went off in my pocket. I scrambled to figure out just where I'd put it and after two rings managed to successfully produce it. The number wasn't one I recognized but then again payphones didn't register so I flipped it open anyhow.

"Hello?" I asked brightly, moving to the edge of the sidewalk, close to the street.

"Duo?" It was Quatre.

"Yo." I said cheerfully, scuffing my boot against the sidewalk and looking down the drive to see if Heero was on his way. What was taking him so long? "Howsit?"

"Well, I just… got a call." He said carefully, and all of my internal alarms went off like mad. My gaze became unfocused as I shifted my concentration completely to him.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"…Are you sitting down…?"

* * *

/**End Chapter Nine, Inheritance**/

* * *

Notes:

* * *


	11. Chapter Ten

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Ten

* * *

**

Are. You. Sitting. Down.

They were four simple words, absolutely harmless… until someone said them. No one anywhere had ever asked "are you sitting down" when they had good news. Those weren't good news words. It was the phrase you asked when you had to tell someone that a person was dying or already dead or that they were breaking up with you or something else as equally leg-buckling.

"Just tell me, Quatre."

"I got a phone call from Pagan. He found Relena's Will." Quatre said quietly. "Apparently when Mara was born, Relena didn't mention anything about Heero being the father."

Shit. "So we're back to trying to prove it." I watched as our car turned the corner and Heero lifted a hand to make sure I saw it was him. I waved back distractedly.

"I'm afraid that's not going to help." Quatre sighed as Heero pulled to a stop in front of me. "She went so far as to designate godparents and Mara's got to go to them now."

"What?" I squawked, hand hovering over the door handle. Inside the car, Heero gave me a strange 'what's going on?' look. "That's crazy! The godparents can't take her if her blood father comes forward, right? Quatre I'm at the emergency care unit on Third right now, I actually convinced Heero to go and we'll be able to prove it! You can't just let her go to someone else! She's got-" I paused, considering my words and shook my head. "Wait, who did she designate…?"

Oh god did I feel like an idiot when I heard Quatre laughing on the other end of the phone. It was a nice sound, though, so I let him, knowing that I well deserved it for jumping to conclusions. "Who else do you think she would pick, Duo?"

"Very funny." I said wryly, opening the door. "So can we just go get her?"

"Ah, well, it'll be a day or two actually." He sighed and I could almost see him shaking his head. "The paperwork has to go through and they have to prove that this is actually her Will and not a copy we've made. Pagan sent me scans of the document, though, and from what I gathered glancing over it… most everything was left to Mara and Mara was left to the two of you."

I raised an eyebrow and glanced to Heero as I closed the door. "So what does that mean?" I held up a hand to keep Heero from driving anywhere until I was off the phone. He rolled his eyes but the car remained parked.

"Nothing right now; you'll still be able to take her in a day or two. She can't access her inheritance until she's eighteen so basically nothing will change for her until then." He hesitated for a second and there was a moment of awkward silence as I tried to process all of that. "Relena didn't leave you two completely empty-handed. I sent someone over to Relena's house to get Mara's things."

Surprised, I forgot what I was going to say for a second. "O-oh." Blinking, I glanced to Heero, wondering if he could hear anything Quatre was saying. "When do you expect them to arrive?"

"At your house?"

"Yeah." By this time, Heero was giving me a strange look, probably wondering what on earth was so important that he couldn't drive while I spoke.

"Tomorrow morning, maybe nine o'clock?" I heard him shuffling papers and then he made a noise of assent. "Don't worry about it. They'll bring the stuff and they can help you move it to where-ever you'd like."

"That'll be good."

"Duo?"

"Yeah?"

"Not that I don't trust you but… are you sure you can handle this? She's going to need a lot of special things from now on and you can't just leave dangerous items out in the open."

"I know that…"

"I've seen your place, Duo. It's not exactly child friendly."

"A couple of days will be enough to fix that. I've got the rest of this week off anyhow." He sounded like he was busy and I didn't want to keep him any longer than I had to.

"If you need help, promise me you'll give Hilde a call." He shot quickly before I could say goodbye to him. "Please?"

Smiling, I nodded, despite that he couldn't see it. "Yeah, I will." That was actually a really good idea; I wouldn't have thought to call her. "Hey look, we're about to head home so I'm going to let you get back to what you were doing."

"Oh, that's right- you're not at home. I left you a message."

"Yeah there were signs inside the building that asked me to turn my cell phone off so I did. Sorry about that…"

My location seemed to finally dawn on him. "Are you just there because of Heero?"

"No." I winced. "I kind of cut myself in the kitchen."

"Are you all right?" He asked worriedly. Inwardly I sighed because knew I would have to put his attention elsewhere or we'd be on the phone forever.

"I'll live, no big deal." I said flippantly, playing it off as absolutely nothing he should worry about. "Take care!" I heard him starting to say something else but I hoped it was just goodbye because I'd already clicked the off button before he'd finished speaking.

"Quatre?" Heero asked as soon as I'd closed the phone.

"Quatre." I affirmed casually, stashing my phone back in my pocket. I knew he wanted me to continue but I kept my mouth shut. If I only had to answer questions it would be easier to avoid another serious conflict.

"What did he want?" He prompted when he realized I wasn't going to reply. Glancing quickly to me, he began to drive.

"They found Relena's Will." I settled back into the seat, keeping my attention on Heero.

"And…?"

Sighing, I shrugged. "It looks like we get Mara by default." I thought fast when I saw his fingers tighten on the steering wheel. "We're listed as her godparents."

"Can't we tell them no?"

"We're not going to tell them no, Heero. She obviously wanted us to have the kid and are you really going to deny Relena that request?"

He growled and I knew it was on the tip of his tongue to say something ornery or contradictory to that but I also knew that he wouldn't. Whatever else he thought, the past still had a strong hold on him. It had a hold on all of us and none of us could possibly just abandon it. He'd loved Relena. Most of us had but he'd loved her differently. I didn't have to like it but I respected it as the truth and there was no way I would ignore reality because it _did_ matter.

I think that before that point, before that phone call, I'd been considering taking Mara in to be more of a game than anything but it had just become a responsibility between one second and the next. It was almost pretend before and I felt a little ill at the way everything was so quickly becoming reality. Relena had obviously trusted us. We'd been nominated to care for a child – _her_ child – in the event that something happened to her. Not even Heero could find a way to ignore that, to say no. Regardless of what either of us wanted or thought we wanted, we were getting a child.

That is, if Heero would behave and go along with it this time.

"When… how…" He clenched his jaw, eyes locked ahead to the road. "What do we have to do?"

I let out the breath I'd been holding. Although he hadn't agreed to anything but listening, at least that was more than he'd been willing to do the past few days. We weren't out of the fire yet, but maybe I was finally getting somewhere.

"We can go pick her up in a couple of days. I think Quatre is probably going to call the agency but I don't know since he was busy and I didn't want to keep him." I took a deep breath before letting it out and continuing. "There is a lot that needs to get done and some things will… probably have to… change."

"More than I think you realize…" He muttered, eyes on the road.

Counting to five before I returned some smart-ass comment, I nodded. "Probably, but I don't think it'll be as awful as you think."

I could tell he wanted to wring my neck even if I didn't know why. "How do you plan on obtaining everything necessary to care for a child so quickly?"

"Relena had to be taking care of her somehow, right? Quatre's having her stuff sent over tomorrow morning."

"I have work."

Yes I know you have work. You always have work. I can't pry you away from your work with the jaws-of-life, Heero. "I know, don't worry. It's taken care of already." I closed my eyes, hoping that I'd heard the end of the conversation.

Thankfully, luck was on my side and the rest of the car ride was spent in silence. Although he didn't say anything, I could tell he was thinking deeply. It took every last ounce of will power I had to keep from asking him what exactly was on his mind. I didn't want to interrupt him because I knew he needed time. Life had been hard enough for him to adjust to the first time around and now even that was being turned upside down.

So I let it be, knowing that he would tell me when he was ready.

When we got home I got out of the car and walked around to his side. He was just sitting there, staring kind of blankly at the dash with a confused expression. As quietly as I could I popped his door open and leaned on the frame, following his line of sight as if it would give me an idea about what he was thinking. It didn't of course, but it seemed to snap him out of his reverie and he clambered out of the vehicle. I felt like I was in a bit of a trance, unable to break the steady peace. Half a pace behind him, I silently followed him through the front door.

As soon as he was inside, though, he slipped off his shoes and turned on me. Grabbing my shirt front, he pulled me over to him and into a demanding kiss. Caught off guard, I barely retained the presence of mind to kick the door closed behind us before the neighbors noticed. I stumbled half a step forward and broke the kiss when he began to move backward. This was certainly a change of pace I could handle. With a happy grin I shook off my boots and caught him around the waist, drawing him close.

"What was that for?" I murmured, staring him right in the eyes. He was gorgeous when he gave me that look; full of heat and life like he used to be when we were just teens. But I could see the worry and confusion still simmering right below the surface and I knew his mind was not settled or at ease yet. With a sigh, he dropped his gaze and leant forward to rest his forehead against mine. I worriedly ran one hand through his hair and settled it gently on the back of his neck. "Are you okay?"

"Time," he whispered almost too quietly for me to hear. His fingers curled into the fabric of my shirt, clinging as if he wasn't going to let go. "We can't… we won't…" He glanced up for a split second and then shook his head, unable or unwilling to continue.

I chuckled and kissed his forehead, his temple, raised his chin with one hand and sought his lips for a few brief seconds and then smiled against his skin. "Are you worried we won't have 'alone time,' Heero?" How cute. "She's a little kid and little kids go to bed early, right? Sister Helen had us in bed by eight."

Of course I conveniently forgot to mention how often we woke up in the middle of the night to bother our caretakers…

He growled as I made to pull away at last and grabbed me by the collar. Bringing my face to within an inch of his, he grinned almost maliciously. "Did I say you could leave?"

Raising an eyebrow, I made no move to escape. "Me? Leave?" I inquired innocently as I easily slipped from his grasp. "If I did, it would only be to get to the bedroom first."

I grunted when I felt my shoulder blades bang sharply against the wall but it was instantly forgotten when he kissed me. I could feel the question behind the action, the need for reassurance. Our worlds were changing and there needed to be something stable. There needed to be something that didn't change. I'd become Heero's safe haven and he was mine. Somehow I think he needed that more than I ever could.

So I returned the kiss with fervor, hoping that I could distract him from himself; give him an escape from despairing thoughts. Threading my hand through his hair, I curled my fingers, letting the soft strands slip silkily through my grasp. I could feel his fingers curling into the waistline of my jeans.

"Duo," he said softly and I could hear the seriousness behind the tone, "there's something…" He trailed off and looked distant, out of reach.

"Something…?" I echoed, gently touching noses, attention focused solely on Heero.

His eyes flickered over mine, taking me in as if he were trying to memorize everything he could see and more. I loved and hated that look… I felt special, worthy of attention and care when he looked at me like that. At the same time I knew that gesture. I knew what it meant and how it could hurt. There was something important he wasn't telling me because he thought he had to exclude me to protect me.

He didn't know that I thought he was the one who needed protecting.

"It's okay." I whispered, hands resting against the sides of his neck.

His hands covered mine, warm and soft and he pressed forward again, kissing me much more gently. "I don't want to think tonight," he breathed against my lips.

I smiled, leading him down the hall with small steps, never losing contact with him. "I think I can help with that," I purred, absently closing the bedroom door behind us so the dog wouldn't… interrupt.

Maybe if I hadn't been so intent on distracting Heero that night, I might have noticed... If I'd been more observant I would have realized that Artemis was locked in the backyard instead of being inside where we'd left her. Perhaps if I had been paying attention I might have seen the shoe imprint on the carpet before we scuffed it away on our way to the bedroom. If I had looked more closely I might have realized that the door to the front hall closet was not closed quite right- it had popped open like it always does when someone doesn't know to twist the handle so the latch would catch.

Maybe if I hadn't been distracted I might have noticed that someone had been inside our house.

But I was… and I didn't.

And everyone knows that ignorance is bliss.

* * *

/**End Chapter Ten, Inheritance**/

* * *

Notes: **

* * *

**


	12. Chapter Eleven

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven

* * *

**

I woke the next morning to Heero's questioning voice in the doorway of our bedroom and ungodly bright lights. I sleepily agreed to whatever he was saying, hoping that it would make him leave faster. In an attempt to return to my blissfully warm sleep, I rolled over and wrapped myself in blankets, burying my face in the pillows. The fact that I knew I was going to have to wash the sheets later did not help to improve my irritation over being woken so early. Nor did the fact that seconds later those same sheets were stripped away, allowing the cold of morning to wash over my bare skin.

"Heeroo!" I complained noisily, making a grab for the stolen bedcovers and missing as I finally opened my eyes.

He was standing imperiously beside the bed. "Did you move my briefcase?" he demanded, as if he'd already asked me a million times. Which he probably had.

Did I move his- what the hell was he asking me that for? He knew I never touched his stuff without telling him. I rolled my eyes and turned over, half burying my face in the pillow again. "Do I _look_ like I moved your briefcase? I can barely move myself." I smiled into the pillow, containing a laugh.

"You're sure?" He still sounded like he didn't trust that I hadn't move from our bed since… well.

"Yes, Heero. I must have hauled my lazy ass out of this bed _just_ to move your briefcase so that you would wake me up and ask me stupid questions at-" I glanced at the clock, "six fucking thirty in the morning. Go to work already. You probably left it someplace weird because I tried to lock you out yesterday, remember?"

"Mm…" He didn't sound convinced. "Maybe." The floorboards protested weakly as he moved back toward the door. Just before he left, he turned and gave me a curious look. "Not going to be a morning person today?"

"I'm not a morning person any day," I griped. "I consider it a crime to be a morning person."

"Mm," he agreed absently, though I could practically see a sneaking smile at the edges of his lips.

"Make a smart-ass remark about punishment," I quipped before he could say anything else, "and you won't make it to work. At all."

"Sounds fun." He finally smirked, leaning against the doorframe. I definitely liked him better when he was acting like that.

"You'd think so," I purred sweetly, "until you realized I was putting you to work moving childcare things around the house instead of inviting you back to bed." Grinning, I raised an eyebrow. "Although I suppose I could do both…"

He snorted and shook his head, tossing the sheets across my ankles and heading down the hall. "I'll see you when I get home."

"Love you!" I called after him, knowing that it irked him when I did that. Oddly, I heard his footsteps stop and track back to the bedroom entrance.

Poking his head inside, he gave me a quick, thoughtful… almost _worried_ once-over and then dropped eye contact. "Yeah. Love you too."

Wha… what?

Tossing the covers off my ankles, I slithered out of bed and followed him down the hallway. Heero almost _never_ responded when I said… I mean, it's not like I thought he didn't return my feelings or anything, he was just so- well, himself. He expected me to understand and I did and I would for as long as he needed. So why? What was that look he gave me? Why, when he had said more than he ever usually said, did I feel like he'd said… so much less?

I snagged the edge of his sleeve wordlessly and he turned. I ran my eyes over his face but there was nothing there that gave any indication that he'd been acting strangely. He was the same Heero I'd known for years, wearing that same, flawless mask; the one that gave away no emotion, told no secrets.

The only difference was that this time, he was wearing it for me.

Without speaking he leaned over and kissed me gently on the cheek. Our hands brushed briefly and then he was smiling as he walked out the front door to work, briefcase forgotten. For a second I almost let myself slip. I almost believed that it was okay and that things were as normal as they ever got. But I couldn't shake the memory of that look; the one that was asking me for something I couldn't give, asking me to understand something I didn't know anything about.

I didn't know what to do, so I didn't do anything. I let it go because I knew there was not a single thing I could do until he chose to open up to me. He had to make a move because I didn't know where we were anymore.

I waited a few minutes after he'd closed the door to make sure that he was really gone before getting dressed and padding into the kitchen to forage. I was still a little miffed but I shoved those feelings to the back of my mind. I had a lot to do today and none of it involved trying to figure out Heero's weird moods. I only had a few hours before those people would be here to help me move things and I still had to take a shower and try to dry my hair.

Noting that Heero had left his own plate in the sink instead of putting it in the dishwasher, I grabbed a bowl to begin my breakfast routine. I glanced around but the dog was nowhere in sight. Whistling for Artemis, I ignored Heero's bad habit and snatched the open can of wet dog food from the fridge.

But she didn't come.

Confused, I set the can on the counter and wandered out of the kitchen, glancing into all of the rooms in the house. There was no dog, though on my way through the front room, I noticed the red number one blinking patiently on the phone base. For a moment I was confused, trying to remember who would have called, when I recalled that Quatre said he'd called and left a message. Before I could press the button, I heard Artemis scratching at the back door.

At first I thought that she wanted to go out, but when I got to the door… she was already outside. Curious and a little worried, I opened the door and let her in, thinking that in his weird mood Heero must have let her outside. She gave me a sulky look as she passed, heading for the kitchen.

"What were you doing out there, stupid?" I asked, following her to the kitchen. Of course she couldn't understand or answer me but I felt better talking to someone other than myself. We'd gotten Artemis because I was home far more than Heero and I hated being alone. Sure, I could defend myself against almost anything that intruded but it was more than just that. I had an imagination that 'overactive' didn't begin to describe.

I took as fast a shower as I could and actually managed to get my hair mostly dry before the doorbell rang. Cursing the fact that I'd chosen to eat _before_ my shower, I answered the door. There were two men I didn't quite recognize standing on my front step, both of whom were smiling as if they expected me to know them. The one on the right was a little bit stockier but they could have been twins for all the rest. Twins I didn't know. I was handed a clipboard with a few sheets of paper and one of them disappeared without a word to return to the small moving truck parked in my drive.

"Hi." I said, glancing between the clipboard and the remaining 'twin,' trying to place where I'd seen him before. "You're a little early."

"I hope that's all right. We can wait outside for another three minutes if you'd like, until nine." I didn't miss the hint of a cheeky smile on the edges of his lips.

Grinning, I shouldered open the door with my good shoulder and allowed him access to the house. "I didn't say early was bad, sir…?"

"Call me Doc."

"Doc?" I repeated, certain it wasn't his real name. "Have we met?"

"In passing, sir." He smiled and motioned vaguely in the direction his partner had disappeared. "We're part of Master Quatre's Maguanac Corp."

Curses! Why I hadn't realized that was beyond me. Of course Quatre was still associating with his long-time friends and of course those would be the people he trusted to do anything important for him. I'd met most of them one time or another so I could recognize most of their faces. Not that I could be expected to remember names or anything like that but I still felt badly for not knowing.

"The others should be here shortly."

"Others?" How much stuff were they planning on bringing! There was already a small moving truck in the driveway.

"Quatre invited friends of yours, didn't he tell you?"

"Obviously not." I said dryly, watching the second Maguanac as he rolled some sort of dresser thing up the front walk. Giving up on watching, I moved inside and into the doorframe of the kitchen to allow them room to bring things inside. "How… much stuff did you bring?"

"Quite a bit." Doc said, moving out of the way as the dresser creaked through the front hall.

I took a step back into the hallway to watch. "The door to the guest room is open if you want to put it in there."

"Have you moved the other stuff out?" came a very familiar voice.

"Trowa!" I exclaimed, nearly dropping the clipboard I was still holding. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be on that L4 colony…"

"I was," he said simply. When it came to talking, Trowa was often worse than even Heero.

"So…?" I prompted as he moved past me. "What happened?"

"Nothing." He greeted Artemis with gentle hands and she practically melted into him. I think that next to Heero, Trowa was quite possibly her favorite person. "Quatre wanted me to help you."

I smiled, amused as always at how carefully Trowa chose his words. "It's good to see you."

"Where's Heero?" He asked, moving farther into the house.

Giving a quick glance to make sure the Maguanacs would be okay unloading without me, I followed him. "He had to work today. Besides, he's not really good at the whole well, anything. Not around the house anyhow. Although he did fix the sink that one time when it started flooding the bathroom… And I suppose he helped paint the front room when we fixed it."

"Had you planned on painting this room?" Trowa asked idly, not even looking at me.

I stopped rambling and actually looked at the guest room we were planning on converting. It was very plain- white walls, a twin bed, a nightstand and a half-dresser, all lorded over by the brightly lit sun-window on the ceiling. "Don't tell me you want to decorate."

Glancing sideways at me, he gave me a little, almost imperceptible smirk. "_I_ don't."

"Wha-"

"Duuuuoooo!"

Eyes widening in shock, I turned away from Trowa. "He sent _Hilde_?" I said incredulously as I moved down the hall. Behind me, Trowa chuckled and followed me.

I caught Hilde as she was taking off her shoes and she immediately enveloped me in a bear hug. "Did Quatre call you?" I asked, slipping out of her grasp to glance behind her. Catherine was coming up the front walk, carrying a basket and yapping at Doc's companion as he returned to the van.

"Trowa told Cathy and she called me." She grinned, slipping off her shoes. "And, well… let's face it. I knew you were going to need help the second I heard the news."

"It's just a kid…" I said a little sorely. Why did everyone make it seem like we weren't going to be able to handle this? I'd taken care of Heero and he was as much of a pain sometimes as any child could be.

"It's not just _a_ kid, Duo." Catherine chided with a gentle smile, hugging me as soon as she was close enough. "She's a three year old girl coming to live with two completely inept guys."

"Inept!" I squeaked indignantly, immediately regretting the way my voice jumped at the implication. I was cut off before I could say anything else as she released me and I was caught around the shoulders by Trowa's hands.

"Don't worry!" Catherine grinned as she removed her shoes, obviously proud of the teamwork her and her brother were pulling off; almost as though they'd had it planned. "We're here to idiot-proof this childcare business!"

Hilde plucked the plastic bag out of Catherine's basket and shoved it into Trowa's hands. "Make sure he stays busy."

Catherine grabbed Hilde's sleeve and tugged her toward the interior of the house. "Come on, let's get started."

Waving to us, Hilde allowed herself to be dragged away. "Taa!" With that, the girls disappeared into the guest bedroom.

"But-" I protested weakly, making a move toward them. Trowa squeezed my shoulders as he pulled me into the kitchen.

"Leave them." He released me and took a seat, pulling something out of the grocery bag Catherine had handed him.

"But…" I turned and headed for the exit again. "Was that _paint_ in that basket?"

"Probably," he said nonchalantly, rifling around in the bag.

"_Pink_ paint…?" I couldn't- surely they weren't going to… were they? I had to stop them! I made a dash for the door, trying to think of an excuse as to why they absolutely could not paint that room pink.

Before I even reached the door, though, something hit me square in the center of my back and I whirled around fast enough to grab for it as it fell. The bag touched the tips of my fingers before hitting the ground. With a wary look to Trowa, who was still sitting placidly at the table, I bent down and snatched up the item. It contained what looked like small white sticks and plates as well as a packet of really little screws.

"What the hell are these?" I asked skeptically, digging my fingers into the plastic in an attempt to open it. Of course it was the type of plastic that just stretches impossibly until you get frustrated and knife it open.

"Cabinet locks," he said simply, as though that should explain everything.

"What?" I accepted his pocketknife when he held it out to me and sliced messily into the package. Very carefully I untangled one of the hooked sticks and examined it.

"They go on the doors and frames of cabinets to prevent them from being opened." He motioned to the device I was holding. "You have to push the tab before it'll work."

"Tell me again why we're trying to make my cabinets impossible to open?" I asked dubiously.

"What's in the cupboard under your sink?" He gave me a calm, patient look, obviously waiting for me to catch on.

"Cleaning stuff."

"Poisonous cleaning stuff."

"Oh. I think I see where you are going with this." I sighed, dumping the contents of the bag onto the table so I could sort through them. "Do they really get into things like that? Even if it's bad for them?"

"She'll get into things you don't even know you have." He got to his feet and left the contents of Catherine's plastic bag on the table.

"Where are you going?" I asked suspiciously. "Aren't you going to stay and help?"

"You can handle it without me," he said quietly, pausing and laying one hand against the doorframe as he glanced back to me. "Oh, and when you're done with those… Join me out back."

I groaned. This was going to be a long, _long_ day. I suppose it didn't matter because at the end, when Heero got home, there would be an execution and I would appreciate my last day. With a sigh, I snatched the little screw-driver device Trowa had pulled from the bag, and set to work.

* * *

/**End Chapter Eleven, Inheritance**/

* * *


	13. Chapter Twelve

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve

* * *

**

Though the front door creaked open quietly enough, it woke me instantly. I couldn't help but be alert, even though I knew it was probably only Heero. He was the only one Artemis never barked at during the night. For a moment I waited to hear the tell-tale thump of his briefcase on the floor before I remembered he'd left it here that morning. I relaxed when I heard his soft voice praising Artemis for not making a fuss at him.

"You're late!" I called, smiling at the way my voice still sounded so drowsy. I loved drowsy voices.

Muffled footsteps padded down the hall and he stuck his head into the door of our room to get a look at me. "Wu Fei was waiting for me when I got out of work." His tone clearly implied that he thought it was my fault.

"Don't look at me." I defended, rolling languidly out of bed. Higher brain functions seemed to shut down while I was napping and all I wanted to do was go _back_ to sleep. But I wanted to see Heero, too, and that desire always won out over any others. "I was accosted by a couple of Maguanacs, Trowa, Hilde, _and_ Catherine at nine this morning. They only left about an hour ago."

"Wow, long day." He loosened the tie around his neck and began undoing the buttons on his shirt to get ready for bed.

"Tell me about it," I murmured, wrapping my arms around him and burying my nose in the crook of his neck. He smelled really nice, like smoke and aftershave and something just a little bit sweet. 'Fei had probably taken him to a bar so that he wouldn't be lording around the house causing trouble. "How was it with 'Fei?"

"I'd forgotten what an ass Wu Fei is," he said mournfully, running feather light fingers over my back and hips. I would have purred if I could have. "You?"

I chuckled. "I'd forgotten what an ass Trowa _has_." That actually drew a laugh from him. God I loved when he laughed.

"So you… finished the room?" He asked quietly, nuzzling the hair just above my ear.

"We actually childproofed the whole house. Found your briefcase in the front closet when we were stashing things, by the way." I grinned tiredly when I heard him mumble something about having seen it when he came in just now. "Catherine and Hilde locked themselves in the guest bedroom and left us to fix the rest."

He made a face, reluctantly releasing me as I pulled back a little. "It's staying in the guest bedroom?" he asked, sounding a bit put out at the idea.

"Yes, _she_ is." I gave him a hard glare, though it was softened somewhat by the fact that I was too tired to argue much. I would have kept going, but he interrupted, obviously trying to avoid being chided.

"And what do you mean by childproofed?"

What did he think I meant? "You know, making it safe for a kid." I said, trying to sound nonchalant because I knew he was probably going to chuck a fit about a number of things. Like the cupboards. And his guns. And… well, let's just say I was going to be slaughtered when he saw the backyard.

He glanced suspiciously around our room, seeming to notice that something was different. His eyes settled back on me and I swallowed, offering him a nervous smile. "Where are my guns?" His tone was almost warning me to say they were safe or else.

"Locked in the closet so no one accidentally gets into them."

"My knives?"

"It's all in our closet." I said patiently, yawning deeply. "It really should have been put away in the closet to begin with so it's not a big deal."

"It was perfectly fine where it was. We could have closed the door."

"Heero…" I warned, eyes narrowing.

"So how does the room look?" He asked, clearly not willing to get into a fight.

I sighed, allowing him to change the subject because I wasn't up to bickering either. It was just too much effort for nothing. Maybe I could discuss it with him tomorrow; or later today if you wanted to get technical.

"It's kind of… actually, I haven't seen it yet," I responded, a little miffed. In getting everyone out and cleaning up the main rooms, I'd forgotten to open the door to the guest bedroom and have a look for myself. "Let's go see, shall we?"

Ignoring his groan, I grabbed his hand and lead him down the hall. He dragged his feet the entire way, grumbling. I refused to smile at his antics, however, because I did not want to encourage poor behavior like that. He was enough trouble already, without any help from me. The door clicked open and I reached inside to flick on the light.

My initial action was to recoil and take a step backward, but Heero was in the way. Beside me he had stiffened, staring at the interior as though it were going to jump out and bite him. Everything was so… pink. And purple. And was that… baby blue? I bit back a groan and forced a smile onto my lips.

"Tada," I said weakly, turning to allow Heero access to the room.

"What happened to the stuff… that was in here?" He sounded hesitant and I knew that he was trying very hard to be okay with all of this.

"Some of it is in the basement and the rest is in the garage. I think." I brushed the backs of my fingers against his forearm in reassurance.

He motioned to the toy chest and the rack of brightly colored tubs beside it that were brimming with toys. "Is all of that… necessary?"

"Wait till you see the video collection…" I muttered, hiding my grin.

"The what?"

I shrugged, remembering the boxes of video tapes we'd had to find places for earlier. "Apparently little kids watch a lot of television."

"Then the two of you ought to get along," he said dryly. The initial shock of seeing all that… _pastel_ was wearing off now and he was almost visibly forcing himself to relax.

I snorted and took his hand in my own, switching off the light. "Come on. You can check out the rest of the house tomorrow."

Pulling him into the hall, I closed the door behind us. Before we could get back to the bedroom, however, the phone rang. My first inclination was to ignore it, but no one called so late without a good reason. I released Heero's hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, I'll get it. You change." I dashed down the hall and into the front room, snatching up the phone on the fourth ring, just before the answering machine. "Hello?"

"Duo?" It was Quatre. "Sorry to call so late. Is Trowa still there?"

"No?" I wondered why he would even ask. Why would Trowa still be here? He'd told me that he was staying the night with Quatre. "He should be there. He left a little over an hour ago."

"Oh. He's not." He sounded a little disappointed. "He's not answering his phone, either. I called to tell him I was going to bed and that someone would let him in, but…"

"But he didn't answer?" That was strange. Trowa always answered his phone. I didn't even know what his voicemail sounded like.

"No, it switches right to voice mail." He made a sort of stressed noise. "It's just not like him, and with what happened to Relena…

"It's odd," I said, "but maybe the battery just died, you know?" That was the only explanation I could think of. Obviously Trowa had turned the phone off somehow, but there wasn't a reason for him to do that willingly.

"I doubt it would…" There was a moment of silence and then he seemed to remember something. "Wait, was he driving Hilde and Catherine?"

"Yeah, he was." That had to be it. They were probably just talking and he didn't want to interrupt so he'd turned it off to prevent that. Easy. I took a seat on the couch, fumbling around in the cushions for the TV remote control.

He sighed. "That's probably it then. I really should have remembered that before bothering you."

"It's fine, but you know," I said absently, "that he might stay with Catherine for a bit longer so he might have just turned it off while he was there. He's rather particular about alone time with family, isn't he?"

"That's true…" He chuckled. "I'd almost forgotten she was staying planet-side while Trowa is here."

"Me too, until she showed up here this morning." I smiled, flipping on the television and muting it before clicking on the closed captions. I'd missed the news all day because we'd been working and I hated to get behind on what was happening. They were reporting some kind of storm quite a ways away; nothing that would affect me. "You know if he doesn't come back tonight that Cathy probably kidnapped him. I wouldn't worry too much. Just give her a call tomorrow morning and ask, right?"

"Yeah, I'll do that. I hope it was all right that they all came by today," he said sheepishly.

"Oh, it was great!" I flicked through the channels to my other favorite news channel. It looked like they were on one of the colonies. "We actually got everything in place…" I trailed off, realizing that it was a follow up of the reports they'd been doing about investigating the doctors' labs.

"Duo?"

I shook my head, pulling my attention away again. "Sorry. Anyhow, we're probably going to be shifting things around for a few days. Maybe weeks."

"Are you ready to take her?" He sounded very eager. "The paperwork all went through really fast and they said you can pick her up any time. All you have to do is call the manor and let them know you're coming."

That was perfect. If I went tomorrow afternoon, Heero would be at work so he wouldn't be given time to talk himself out of it. She could be here by the time he got home. He had always been better at doing things on the fly; I had a feeling that if I tossed the kid into his life quick enough he would treat the situation better than if he was given time to think. Unless…

"Heero doesn't have to go with me, does he?" That would ruin the whole idea pretty fast.

"I don't think so. Both of you were cited in the Will, so either of you should be able to take her home."

"Oh good." I grinned. The less Heero had to do, the happier he would be- which reminded me. "By the way, good job calling Wu Fei to keep Heero out of the way today."

"What?"

"Calling Wu Fei," I repeated, thinking maybe he didn't remember calling. "He showed up at Heero's work and kept him out all day so he wouldn't interfere here."

"He did?" Quatre asked, puzzled. "When I called he said he had things he had to do today so he wouldn't be able to go."

What? Why would Wu Fei lie to Quatre and then go anyway? "Well, maybe he just changed his mind and didn't call. Or maybe he just didn't want anyone to know he was being nice."

To that, Quatre snickered. "Yeah, that… sounds like him."

"Hey, are you watching the news?" I had let my attention drift back to the television again.

"Mm." He agreed, and I heard things being shuffled around on his end. "I had it playing, but I wasn't watching it. What's happening?"

"Well, they've been doing reports on the labs lately, you know?" I was actually kind of concerned about that. Heero wasn't exactly the sentimental type but Quatre might actually understand me. "Does it bother you?"

"Bother me?"

"Yeah." I paused, trying to think of how to put it into words. Finally I sighed. "Our pasts are kinda wrapped up with the docs. There's probably not a whole lot involving me, since I joined the game kind of late, but…" I trailed off for a second before continuing quietly. "Heero's whole life was there. From what I understand, J got him when he was a little kid. You spent a lot of time with Doctor H, didn't you?"

"Not at the labs," Quatre said, though I could hear that he was thinking about it now as well. "Although I can imagine that he would have brought information back there, wouldn't he…"

"If they open those places up," I said gently, "what are they gonna find? It could be anything. It could be nothing! They could have taken everything out when the war was over, right? But they could have left everything, too. They could have left things we don't even know about; things we don't _want_ to know about."

"They're saying they haven't gotten inside yet," Quatre pointed out half-heartedly.

"How long do you think that's going to last?" I replied in that you-know-better voice. "It's only a matter of time."

"What do you want to do?" I winced at his hard tone. "Without knowing what's inside I can't justify extreme measure, especially when there could be nothing at all."

"What if it's not nothing?" I asked, trying to lead him to my train of thought. "Heero and I have been living peacefully. So has pretty much everyone else. Next thing you know they're breaking into the old labs and Relena ends up dead."

"You can't possibly connect the two, Duo. She never went near those labs and the doctors wouldn't have had anything on her anyway."

"I know." I sighed. "All I'm saying is that it's kind of… well, a large coincidence. You, me, Heero, Trowa, Wu Fei… all of us _were _connected. I never got to thoroughly explore anywhere in the lab and I guess I'm just worried that they'll find something dangerous enough to threaten us, or worse the peace. The doctors weren't idle- they designed our gundams and look what we did with them. We ended a huge war. We were _the_ most advanced, powerful weapons on the battlefield and it was luck of the draw that we were on the good side. I can't shake the feeling that those gundams weren't the only thing they designed and I don't want to see what would happen if something fell into the wrong hands."

"You think they are going to find weapons?"

"I don't know what they're going to find, Quatre," I said finally. "I'm just saying… it's a possibility. A dangerous one."

I heard him take a breath and I waited patiently, letting him think over everything I'd given him. Quatre was good at this sort of thing; thinking on a grand scale. The only person I know who is possibly better is Heero. If Quatre thought that it wasn't going to be a problem then I would try to stop worrying. Try.

"Okay, look. I'll send Rashid up tomorrow to check out the lab in the L4 colonies. I think I still have the access codes somewhere."

"The L2 ones are long gone. G changed them obsessively."

"I'm sure that these people won't be able to get inside for a while yet. They haven't even found a real entrance. If Rashid finds anything out of the ordinary, I'll give you a ring, okay?"

"All right," I agreed grudgingly, knowing that was going to be the best I could get at the moment. It was not a bad arrangement, though, and Quatre was right. The idiots they had trying to break into the place on television were having a terrible time of it. They'd lost three people to traps set to keep people from doing exactly what they were attempting to do.

"Who are you talking to?"

I yelped, almost dropping the phone when I heard Heero's voice from just behind me. I hadn't even heard him approach. Glaring and trying to look completely innocent at the same time, I turned around to face him. "It's Quatre. He was looking for Trowa."

His eyes narrowed for a second and then he shook his head. "He went home, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I think he was dropping Hilde off, too."

"Oh. Well… okay."

I turned back to the phone and cleared my throat. "I'm going to let you go, Q. Give me a call if you find out anything new." About Trowa or the labs, I added silently, knowing he would get the message.

"Okay, goodnight." He paused. "And Duo? Try not to worry too much. I'm sure it'll be fine on both accounts."

Smiling, I agreed and hung up gently, rising. I stretched and smiled at Heero before walking over and herding him toward the bedroom. "Come on then, let's go."

He stopped me only when he reached the edge of the bed, turning to face me with a concerned look. "Are you going to pick up the kid tomorrow?"

Damn, caught. "Um… yeah." I mumbled, stripping off my shirt as I got ready for bed. I'd fallen asleep fully clothed earlier only because I hadn't meant to fall asleep at all. "I've got to go out to Relena's and get her."

Quietly he took a seat on the edge of the bed and scooted backward, eyes trained on me as I changed. "Would you… I mean… Can I go?"

I froze, eyes widening a little bit as I stared at him. "What?" I must have been mistaken. There was no way Heero Yuy just asked if he could skip work to pick up a little kid with me. No way.

He flushed, dropping his gaze and shaking his head. "Nevermind."

"No, Heero!" I said hastily, "I'd love if you came along!" Oh please don't let him back out of this. "I just didn't think you would want to, because you have work." He mumbled something under his breath and I raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

"I said," He replied irritably, though with hardly any voice, "that I already told them I wouldn't… be in the rest of the week."

I think I opened and closed my mouth a few times before my voice began to work again. "Really? You really did?" I tried not to sound too excited, but really I failed miserably. I've never been very good at staying calm when I was happy.

"I really did." He chanced a glance back up at me. "I thought it would be a good idea."

"It's an excellent idea," I purred, climbing onto the bed on top of him, straddling his thighs as he leaned back. Tilting my head to one side, I gave him a soft smile. "You know, just when I begin to think you're completely hopeless, you go and do something like that."

His smile faltered for a second, as though he weren't quite sure if he was allowed to be smiling. When I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lip, though, he melted backwards, taking me with him. "Is that a bad thing?"

I slipped gently to the side and curled myself around him, closing my eyes. "Not at all." I murmured sleepily. "Not. At. All…"

* * *

/**End Chapter Twelve, Inheritance**/

* * *


	14. Chapter Thirteen

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen

* * *

**

The next morning I found myself sitting grumpily in the passenger side of our little car as we made the drive to the Peacecraft manor. Heero had hauled my ass out of bed at seven o'clock so that we could be out of the house by nine. While he had let me shower he had refused to let me dry my hair, instead insisting on braiding it wet. I'd attempted to eat a bowl of cereal while he did that but found that it was quite impossible.

If I didn't think I knew better, I'd have thought Heero was actually excited.

Of course, he was playing it off wonderfully as anxiety.

"We're going to be late," he said for the zillionth time.

I groaned, sinking lower into the seat and wishing I could take a nap. "We can't be late because we didn't give them a time," I said patiently.

"I thought you said we should be there by ten." He glanced over, tone skeptical.

"I did." I felt like I was becoming a broken record. "But like I told you the 82 other times you've asked, that's only because it seems like a good time to show up, not because that is what I told them."

"You really should have gotten a time."

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. "Why, so we could be late?"

Thankfully he didn't answer. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the soft radio and the gentle rocking motion of the car, knowing that we still had a little over half an hour before we would actually reach the manor. Though I wanted to go back to sleep, I forced myself to stay awake and listen in case Heero had any further concerns. Or (god forbid) the same concern. Again.

We reached the manor without mishap, though. It was strange; whenever I'd come to Relena's place I'd always expected there to be a parking lot or something. Buildings as large as the manor just seemed like they should have one. Or two, possibly. But there never was. We pulled up in the front circle drive and Heero handed the keys over to a young boy who disappeared with our car. Where he took the car, I'm afraid I'll never know- nor would I know how they always predicted exactly when to bring it back. A part of me wanted to think that they just drove the car out of sight long enough for us to go inside and then they brought it right back and it never actually went anywhere.

Hauling my thoughts away from the car and the manors mysterious storage areas, I jogged to catch up with Heero and fell into pace beside him. "It seems weird without her, doesn't it…?" I asked quietly, looking around. By this time, Relena had usually accosted us and insisted we stay for dinner but this time…

"It's empty." Heero agreed, eyes and voice dull.

"Yeah." He'd hit the nail on the head. The place _was_ empty. It was hollow, devoid of everything Relena had worked to make it. Obviously people had left now that Relena was gone and we hardly even saw any of the staff.

"Masters Heero, Duo?" came a small voice from our right as we passed a corridor. I turned to see who had spoken and found a familiar face at last. "I wasn't expecting you so soon."

I elbowed Heero, hoping he would remember how 'late' he'd thought we'd been. "We wanted to get here early, Miss Sasya."

Sasya was one of the live-in maids that had joined the staff after the world realized the Peacecraft's line had not died. There were only a few people on the staff that would normally greet us and I think she made an effort to be one of them as often as possible. I think she probably admired what we had done in the war like a lot of people did. Somehow I don't think I'll ever get used to the way people would drop their gaze while we were talking, or smile in that embarrassed but pleased way when addressed by name.

"I assume you're here for Mara, correct?" She asked, smiling politely between Heero and me.

"It's okay, right?" I returned her smile and shot Heero a teasing look. "We're not too late to get here, are we?"

"Not at all." She waved off the suggestion and beckoned us down the hall. "Do you have a child-seat in your car?"

"They don't use normal seats?" Heero asked from beside me. His question was rewarded with an incredulous look from Sasya before she turned a disapproving glare to me, as though she expected me to have taught him better. Yeah right.

"No, they don't." She stopped walking and turned to face us, crossing her arms over her chest. "How much were you taught about childcare, sirs?"

"Frighteningly little," I replied before Heero could say anything to further incriminate us. "A bunch of people helped us childproof the house but I didn't learn a whole lot except that anything can and will be gotten into no matter what you do to it."

She raised an eyebrow and nodded. "True." Finally she sighed and seemed to resign herself to something. "Would you like some pointers, then?"

"Yes please," I said as Heero reluctantly nodded. I feared the return, slightly sadistic smile she gave the both of us; and with good reason.

Talking to Sasya was like living in fast forward. I watched her talk and I heard what she was saying but I didn't really _hear_ her. I felt as though I'd been put back in time and was going through a sketchy, live mission briefing. I was receiving a wash of information I wouldn't remember until I had to use it.

Feed her bland foods. Make sure she uses the bathroom. Let her take a nap. Don't pay attention to temper tantrums (whatever those were). Be nearby when she bathes but not in the bath. If she gets hurt she'll look to whomever is watching her and if they play it off as no big deal, so will she. Don't let her into the cupboards (thank you Trowa). Close all doors behind ourselves. The list went on and on until my head was spinning and even I began to think that handling a child was out of the realm of possibility. Piloting the most advanced technology in the known universe hadn't even been this difficult.

Finally a blissful, if expectant, silence fell. I blinked, trying to clear my glazed eyes, and gave Sasya a curious look. "I'm sorry, what?" I asked timidly, afraid she would reprimand me for not listening.

"I _said_, do you have any questions?" she repeated, giving me a 'you'd better not' look.

Hoping that she wouldn't repeat everything we'd just heard, I shook my head. "Only one." I smiled. "Will all of that be on the test?"

"All that and a whole lot more, Mr. Maxwell." She gave us both a scrutinizing once over before turning around again and beginning to walk. "If you have any problems, please don't hesitate to call. Taking care of a child, especially this child, is difficult at best."

"Why is it 'especially'?" I asked curiously, hoping there wasn't something they'd neglected to tell us.

"She'll be taking over the Peacecraft name, you know? Responsibility like that doesn't come lightly, sir. You can't raise her like a normal child because she can't be a normal person."

I could feel my throat restricting at her words. How could she say things like that so easily? Didn't she know what it was like, being raised for a specific purpose, being told that this was your lot in life and you had to follow it whether you liked it or not? No one wanted to live that way but she clearly expected us to force that upon Mara. Despite my disagreement with her, however, I kept my mouth shut. I wasn't going to say anything about how I wouldn't put another human being through our past. From the look on Heero's face, he was thinking the same thing.

We walked in silence after that, our footsteps echoing hollowly in the hallway around us. The entire manor felt dead. Normally the manor wasn't all that active; it was mostly empty and quiet, unless you were on the first floor toward the entrance. But I think maybe it wasn't so much the lack of people that changed as the fact that I knew why we were there. We were taking the last person that made the building familiar. We'd come to take the last piece of the puzzle, the last bit that made the manor 'live'.

Finally we stopped at a door in the middle of nowhere (or at least it felt that way) and Sasya turned to face us. "Ready?"

"No, but we might never be so let's go for it," I said quietly.

Sasya nodded and opened the door a little bit. I craned my neck to get a view inside as she glanced to me. There was someone, a nursemaid perhaps, sitting in a chair against the far wall and the little girl from the funeral parlor was sitting at an incredibly tiny table with some sort of book open in front of her. She turned and looked when she heard the door opening, dark blue eyes scanning all three of us.

God, my breath caught in my throat at the way she remind me of her mother. Everything about her screamed "Relena" from her dusty blonde hair to her little pink shoes. Even the way she held herself spoke of the same caution and intelligence her mother had bourn. The only things that marked her as Heero's kin were the slight slant to her deeply blue eyes and the brush of tan on her skin.

After a few seconds hesitation, her eyes narrowed slightly in confusion and she slipped out of the little blue chair. When she faced us her gaze settled steadily on Heero of all people.

"Papa?"

**

* * *

/End Chapter Thirteen, Inheritance/**

* * *


	15. Chapter Fourteen

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gungam Wing AC is NOT MINE

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen

* * *

**

I wish I'd thought to bring a camera because the look that Heero turned to me when that little girl said "papa" was _priceless_. It was crystal clear to me how badly he wanted to turn around and walk back out the door but I grabbed onto his wrist, flashing him an innocent smile when he scowled. There was no way I was letting him just walk out like that, though. Talk about giving the poor girl a complex… Luckily for everyone, Sasya didn't appear particularly concerned about Heero's reaction.

"That's right sweetie. Papa." She smiled in a very sweet way toward the girl. "Can you say 'hello' to them?"

She tilted her head the slightest bit, dropping her chin and looking up at us as if she was suddenly uncertain about what to do. When she spoke it was quiet and shy. "Hello."

"How does…?" Heero managed finally, his voice strained in a distressed way. "I've never…"

Sasya glanced to him for a brief moment and then stepped across the room to crouch beside Mara. "You should show Papa your book, Miss. He would like to see it, don't you think?"

With a slightly furrowed brow, she looked both Heero and I over before turning to the table she'd been sitting at. She very carefully closed the book she had been looking at and walked it over to us; slowly because it was almost as big as she was. She presented it to us with a shy, silent look. When it didn't seem like Heero was going to do anything, I reached down and accepted the outstretched book with a big smile.

"Thank you Mara." I glanced quickly to Sasya. "What is it?"

She smiled and gave me an encouraging gesture. "Go on, open it."

So open it I did.

Wish I hadn't. The book was not a storybook as I'd first expected.

It was a photo album.

Beside me I felt Heero stiffen as I began flipping through the pages. It was a little surreal, like I was flipping through a book that shouldn't exist, of people and times that weren't real… and yet they were photographs so they had to be, right? There was Heero, fencing at Relena's school. Horseback riding. Sitting on a garden bench, facing Relena and ignoring the rest of the world. There were images of me and Trowa, Quatre and Wufei, Milliardo, Noin, Sally, Hilde… everyone. People I knew, people I didn't; it was all there, labeled with gold pen in Relena's handwriting.

My throat had closed and my hand stilled of its own accord before I'd gotten even halfway through the book. I felt like I'd been dunked in cold water. For over three years I had buried my past, the entire past, as best as I could. I think I had maybe three photos and my favorite gun left over as keepsakes and I hadn't looked at those pictures in months. This? Just seeing everyone the way we used to be brought everything crashing back…

A hand on my shoulder snapped me back to reality. "Can I speak with you alone for a minute?" Heero asked fingers clasping around my wrist.

"Um… sure." I managed a polite to Sasya, despite the sick feeling coiling in my gut. She accepted the photo album when I tipped it into her hands. "Please excuse us. We'll be back in just a moment."

As soon as we were in the hall, Heero practically collapsed back against the wall. Worried, I set a gentle hand on his shoulder and waited in silence for a moment. He probably only needed a minute or two to collect himself. When Heero couldn't handle reality around him he began to ignore it and the last thing anyone needed right now was for him to ignore Mara in any way, shape, or form. That was part of the reason I'd wanted to leave him at home.

"Heero, hey," I shook his shoulder and he looked directly at me… and yet not directly at me. I felt almost as if he was staring through me and it was unnerving enough to silence me again.

"It's just like her, don't you think…?" He asked me softly, hands circling around my neck and pulling me closer to him. I caught myself with one forearm against the wall behind him. "It makes so much sense that she wouldn't want to let her child grow up not knowing anything about the past... It makes too much _sense_." He released me to roughly scrub at his temples with the heels of his hands. "I just never thought… I mean, seeing all of that…"

I nodded, settling in front of him and smoothing back his hair with a smile. Of course he was thinking about Relena. He was probably thinking about a whole lot more. I know that if I'd been as close to Relena as Heero had been… I wouldn't want to deal with any of this. But he had to; we both did.

"Pull yourself together, hey?" I said quietly, eyes meeting his. "They're just pictures. It's just past now. Relena…" I trailed off, swallowing at the way my stomach leapt into my throat. It was still so strange to hear her name and know she wasn't there anymore. "It was a good idea, right? She'll know who she is and where she came from now. Relena did us a favor."

"Sirs?" Sasya poked her head out of the door. "I called to have the last of her things brought out to your car." She pursed her lips for a second and then audibly let out her breath as though resigning herself to something. "They've also added her car seat."

"Will she just… come with us?" I asked, peering around Sasya to where Mara was standing in the room. She had picked up a stuffed animal and was sort of… dancing it in the air. I didn't know how else to explain it- I'd never seen anyone do it before. Somehow I thought I would be seeing a lot of firsts in the near future.

"The situation has been explained to her to the best of our ability." She followed my gaze and shook her head sadly. "You'll probably have to tell her many more times and she may not understand much of it until she's older. She's asked for her mother several times now and no one is quite sure what to tell her."

I gawked at Sasya. "You mean no one's told her about-" I managed to stop myself, lowering my voice. "No one's told her about Relena? She doesn't know what happened?"

"Mr. Maxwell, would you want to tell a three year old that she will never see her mother again?" She gave me a look that clearly displayed how offended she was.

"Don't you think she deserves to _know_?" I hissed, moving past her. Heero followed wordlessly at my heels.

"Duo." He lay a hand on my arm, grabbing it after a second to stop me. "Duo, wait." Waiting until I faced him, he took a deep breath and spoke carefully. "Maybe it's better to leave it for now. I mean… it's not going to make sense and it'll just get the kid upset, right? So just… let's get her and go."

I gave him a hard look for a minute before letting my shoulders drop in defeat. He was absolutely right. There was no way telling her right now would do any good. I wasn't even sure how long three year olds remembered things. If I told her I wasn't even sure she would remember the next day and it would really suck to have to explain it over and over again. He let go of my arm when he saw me relax.

"You're right." I turned around and looked to Mara, who had stopped moving and was staring at the two of us with wide eyes. I extended one hand to her and smiled as gently as I could. "Mara, would you like to come home with Papa and me?"

She nodded and gave us both a wary look as she edged over to me. Very slowly she shifted the stuffed bear to one arm and took my hand- even through she could only grab onto a couple fingers. I controlled the urge to retract my hand because hers was so small; I was afraid of hurting her. I had never considered my hands to be large but against hers they were monstrous.

There was a moment of tension when she surrendered the bear to me and held her free hand out to Heero. He turned to me that same, bewildered glance he'd given me when she called him "Papa". Hoping that he would not blow this chance, I nodded encouragingly. Reluctantly, he extended his hand, though it was a jerky motion and looked as if he would withdraw. She grabbed onto his fingers and he very, very gently curled his hand.

"You ready to take a drive?" I wasn't sure who I was asking, but I got answers from both of them. Heero nodded silently and Mara responded with an enthusiastic 'yeah!'.

Sasya handed me the photo album again as she held the door open for us and smiled. "I'll walk you down to the front doors."

The trip through the manor seemed less haunting on the way back, though it was still not the same. The hollow feeling that something was wrong or missing seemed diminished, but not gone. Mara remained relatively quiet, relinquishing my hand to take hold of her teddy bear again. I smiled, glad that she seemed attached to Heero- even if he looked like he was going to be sick with the inability to deal.

When we reached the car, he tried to pass her off to me. "Oh no," I said, grinning in a devilishly innocent way. "You've got her hand, why don't you put her into the car seat, _Papa_?"

He scowled. "I'm not putting it in the car seat, Duo." He cast a dubious look in the direction of the open car door.

"She's not an it, Heero," I said warningly. "Now put her in the car seat. Surely it can't be that hard." I contained a snicker at the 'I'm going to kill you' look I received, but he moved to help her into the car.

Indeed, getting her into the car seat was not a problem at all. She held her arms up for Heero to pick her up and he set her in the little booster chair thing. She scooted around for a second until she was comfortable and then leaned back so that he could secure the buckles. That, however, was another story all together. Heero picked up the buckles and ties and stared at them for a second before trying to figure out how they went together.

When he hadn't gotten it after another minute, I tilted my head to the side, smiling. "It's not that hard, Heero."

Heero made an exasperated noise and dropped the pieces to the child seat. "Fine, you do it," he growled, back-stepping to give me a sulky glare. "It keeps coming undone."

Rolling my eyes, I picked up the buckles and tried to fit them into place. But he was right; there were too many buckles and not enough strings. Obviously it was either designed by an idiot or it had been broken. Giving up, I eventually I just tied them all together in a knot she wouldn't be able to undo while we drove. Probably. When I turned around, Heero was smirking at me.

"What's wrong; it's not that hard," he said.

I smacked his arm, closing the door. "Shut up- I did it, didn't I?"

"Not the right way." He moved around the car and climbed into the driver's seat.

Opening the passenger side door, I clambered in as well. "You could have tied it."

"You could have said that in the first place."

"Well I didn't know it was broken in the first place." I shook my head as I leaned it back against the headrest. "Let's just get home," I said quietly. "I'm starving." I sat up and turned in my seat so that I could look at Mara. She stared quietly back. "Are you ready?"

"I haffa go a baffroom…"

**

* * *

/End Chapter Fourteen, Inheritance/**

* * *


	16. Chapter Fifteen

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen

* * *

**

Despite the problems with the car seat and the fact that Mara proved more intelligent than either of us, strapping _herself_ into the carseat the second time, we made it home in relative peace. Well, I shouldn't say we made it _home_ because we only made it as far as the park down the street. It was actually Heero's idea to pull over and let her have a go at the playground, which surprised me. The way he'd been acting he made it seem as if we were definitely going to break her now that she was in our care.

It was actually quite an enjoyable afternoon. I left the two of them in the sandbox (although Heero was more sitting on the edge while Mara immersed herself in the sand as completely as she was able) to forage for some kind of lunch. Luckily there was a hot dog vendor not too far away and when I mentioned having just gotten a child he suggested I offer her the hot dog without the bun. It wasn't a half bad idea, either, as I found out soon enough. At first I ignored him but when I offered the hotdog and the bun she refused to eat it. Confused and a little rattled at the defiance, I removed the bun and she happily accepted the hotdog with sandy hands.

"Is that… sanitary?" Heero asked, watching her eat.

"Probably… not," I surmised, though I couldn't bring myself to stop her. If Heero wanted to cause a public disturbance by trying to take it away from her he was perfectly welcome. As long as she was eating it, that was enough for me. "I bet she'd like the swings over there." I mentioned, motioning to the large swings across the park. There were a few on the end obviously made for younger children.

"They look dangerous."

I raised an eyebrow, taking a bite of my own hotdog. "You can strap her into the ones on the left, see? It can't hurt to try."

"Why? Everyone is happy right here."

"Oh-kay," I said, raising my hands in surrender. "But you're giving her a bath when we get home."

She made a very high pitched noise and trampled the dirt castle (really more of a mound) that she'd been building and looked to us to see what we made of the action. I waved and smiled, kicking Heero's ankle when he didn't respond. He glared at me before forcing a smile as well.

"Very nice Mara," he said, a sullen note tainting the overly happy tone.

Well, it was a start at least.

We stayed for a few more hours after that and I did manage to convince Heero to give the swings a try. Oddly enough, I ended up on the swing next to hers, kicking my legs and closing my eyes to really feel the wind on my face. It was getting dark, though, and I didn't know how much more patience Mara would have for staying in the confines of the park. I didn't want to set a bad routine, either. If we let her stay up on the first night back I had a horrible feeling that she would want to stay up for every night after.

She was surprisingly cooperative with us, although I suspect it was because she was tired. She fell asleep on the two minute car ride back to the house. If it had been up to Heero, she would have spent the night in the car seat ("why do we have to wake it up?"). Thankfully at least one of us was thinking.

"Don't argue with me, Heero," I said sternly as soon as we'd gotten into the house. I moved toward the front room to check the messages. "You heard Sasya tell us how to give her a bath. You let her into the sand box, not me."

He gave me a grumpy look as he helped Mara out of her shoes, but didn't respond. I waited until both of them disappeared down the hall before taking a seat on the couch by the phone. Two messages. I clicked the button and began to unlace my boots. The mechanical voice whirred to life, repeating a time and date for the first call. I came dangerously close to pressing delete without listening to the message, because it should have been Quatre's voice, telling us about Mara.

But it wasn't.

At first I was confused because I didn't recognize the voice, even though I had heard it before somewhere. The man didn't leave a name or a callback number, simply said "They want meteor. Call me."

What the hell? Wrong number?

The second message began to play and I made a scramble for a pen and paper when the lady's voice started. "This is Katie Helms from Doctor Spangler's office calling to tell you we have your results, if you'll please just give us a call back at-"

I scribbled down the number as the recording clicked off and rewound. I snatched up the phone and dialed, hoping that they hadn't found anything wrong. Certainly that lady would have said something or sounded more urgent if they had, right? I jumped when the phone stopped ringing and the same voice I'd just heard answered.

"Oh. This is Duo Maxwell. You guys called me earlier?"

"Good evening Mr. Maxwell. Yes, our office called about the results of the blood testing you had done?"

"Right!" I sat up, shifting the phone so that I could hold it between my ear and my shoulder. I picked at my boot laces again as I spoke. "Do I have to come and get them or…"

"That won't be necessary, sir. If you want to obtain copies I can have them mailed directly to you, otherwise I can transfer you to someone who is authorized to give you the results over the phone."

Tough, I thought to myself. If I had them mailed to us then I risked Heero finding out I'd had it done and that wouldn't be any good. "If you could just transfer me I think that'd save everyone time."

"All right sir, please hold for just a few minutes."

That annoying, vaguely heard elevator music began in the background as I waited. I didn't have to wait very long, as someone picked up the other side after only a minute or two. "Mr. Maxwell?"

"That's me!"

"You called for the results of your bloodwork?"

"Yes," I affirmed, wondering how many times I'd have to say it before someone told me.

"For the most part the results were unremarkable although I will say that I was a little concerned."

"Concerned?" I echoed, suddenly worried. "Why?"

"Well, to put it simply there's a strange marker in your blood. I admit to being confused as to what it was because it was obviously not there naturally. It looks almost like an antibody of some sort, though it doesn't act like one. It's not a full… program if you will. Were you ever exposed to any strange diseases?"

I winced internally, remembering the plague that had swept through the streets when I was only a child. "Yeah. I'm from the L2 colonies."

"Oh dear… I wasn't aware anyone that caught that survived…"

"I don't know if I caught it but I was around it and I'm still here. Would that account for the marker?"

"Now that you mention it, yes. I can double check for you but I seem to recall a similar pattern in some of the research they were doing on that disease."

"They never found a cure, did they?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"But it's not hurting me, whatever it is?" I crossed my fingers as I said it, hoping that this would not turn into a bigger deal.

"Not as far as I can tell. It's not doing anything except existing and if you are not experiencing any adverse effects, I can't see it being an issue."

Well, that was one problem avoided. "What about Heero's bloodwork?" I asked quietly, finally taking off my boots. "Anything unusual?"

"I'm afraid I can't give out that information; it would be a violation of our privacy policy for me to give the results to anyone outside of himself or his immediate family."

"I _am_ his immediate family," I said irritably. "He's busy putting our daughter to sleep right now so if you would please just tell me everyone can get on with their lives."

Obviously flustered at the implication, he apologized and reported that Heero's blood appeared to have the same sort of marker, slightly altered, but was otherwise nondescript. That was fine- Heero had probably been exposed to a lot of the same things I had, growing up on the move like he had. Though the doctor asked me if I would allow either sample to undergo further testing, I denied him the privilege and hung up without saying goodbye.

Almost as soon as the phone clicked off, however, it rang. Startled, I answered it before realizing that it was probably just the office calling back. "Hello?"

"Duo?" It was Quatre.

Leaning back on the couch, I smiled. "You're a welcome interruption," I said quietly. "How're things there?"

He sighed heavily. "I've got good news and I've got bad news. What do you want to hear first?"

Wincing, I tossed around the idea of hearing the good news first but decided it would be better saved for last. "The bad news."

"No sign of Trowa. Catherine called to talk to him earlier today; apparently he didn't drive her home after all. I rang the circus master and a couple of his contacts in the area but none of them had seen him." I could hear him pacing on the other side of the line.

"Airlines?" I suggested worriedly.

"I had them checked but either he didn't go anywhere or he used an alias he hasn't told me." Some of his frustration leaked into his voice. "I left a few messages on his phone but beyond that there's hardly anything I can do. I'm worried, Duo."

"After what happened with Relena, you have every right to be," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "But you've got to think that he knows how to take care of himself. If he hasn't turned up dead, chances are pretty good that he's fine. If he had to go to ground somewhere because of something… well… I mean, I'm sure you'll be the first to hear from him. I mean, it could be as simple as him wanting a bit of space, right?"

"He would have called for that," Quatre insisted.

"But what if he didn't?" I knew as well as Quatre that Trowa would definitely have called if he were changing plans, especially if they were plans he'd made with Quatre. There was always a chance, though, that something had happened and he just hadn't called yet. "I'm just saying… don't make yourself sick worrying over it. You know very well that does no one any good."

"I know."

I waited for a moment before shifting and trying to lighten the mood a bit. "So, what's the good news?"

"Rashid just called. He's in the colonies and he's been in and out of the lab." I heard him finally settle somewhere. "He says there doesn't appear to be anything of interest; at least, nothing that could hurt anyone. I don't think it would hurt to let the public into the labs."

"What are you planning?" I asked suspiciously. Surely he wasn't thinking of handing over the access codes…

"I'm not planning anything," he said, sounding a little amused. "I'm just saying that if they can get in, they can have at it. I asked Rashid to investigate a little closer but I honestly don't think he'll find anything. If he does he'll bring it back with him."

"That's good news for you," I said happily. "Has he said if there was anything about the other labs in that one?"

"Ah, no." He let out a half-chuckle, half-sigh. "Sorry. I asked him to look, though. I think we're just being paranoid about it. If the doctors had had something worse, I think they would have used it, don't you? They were rather ruthless at times."

I groaned internally, remembering. They were royal bastards in their own right, despite how much they had done to help. I wasn't so sure that some of the sacrifices they'd made were really worth the reward but… well, it was because of what they'd done, what they'd created, that the war ended. I couldn't help being at least a little grateful to the old geezers. "Yeah, I guess."

He let me think for a moment before asking "How's Mara, by the way?"

"Heero's putting her to bed right now, actually."

"…You left them alone?" He sounded concerned.

"I uh… yeah." On second thought, maybe that wasn't the best idea ever. "You know," I admitted after a second, "I think it had to happen. He's going to have to get used to her sometime. Might as well be now."

He laughed and I relaxed a bit. "True enough. If you haven't heard anyone panicking yet, chances are that you'll be all right. You might want to check on them soon."

I heard the bathroom door open. "Ah, hold on a second." I covered the mouthpiece. "Heero, is everything okay?"

"It's… really wet."

I contained a groan and took a breath. "Are you going to put her to bed?"

"Do I have to?" He didn't bother waiting for a response. "I will."

"Quatre says hi!" I called.

"Hello Quatre," he replied in a patronizing tone. "Ask him if he knows how we get Mara's documents."

"Documents?" I questioned loudly. I uncovered the receiver. "Heero wants to know how we get Mara's documents."

"Like a birth certificate," Heero clarified as Quatre began talking.

"I know, Heero," I said patronizingly, even though I hadn't known. I'd never had real papers before in my life, although I assumed it made sense that she would have them. She didn't have anything to hide and unlike us she'd lived at a legit, stable home since she was born. I returned my attention to the phone. "I'm sorry, Quatre- what?"

"I said I didn't realize that you hadn't gotten them." He sounded a little confused. "Didn't they give them to you when you picked her up from the Peacecraft estate?"

"Should they have?" No one had said anything about taking anything but Mara. It was completely logical that we'd have to have that information now that I thought about it, but I guess it just hadn't occurred to me before now.

"Odd…" Quatre mused almost to himself. "They certainly should have given them to you."

"Maybe they didn't have them there? No one said anything so maybe they thought we already had them. Should I check with the adoption agency that she was registered with, do you think?"

It was quiet on the other side of the line for a few minutes and then finally he made a noise of surrender. "Yeah, that would be best. Do you want me to look into it?"

"They can fax them," Heero called. "It'd be best to have copies anyhow."

I relayed the message. "Heero says if someone finds them that they can fax us copies."

"You really should have the originals. I'll get someone on it in the morning."

"Okay." I smiled. "Hey man… thanks. I mean, for everything. I don't know what we'd all do without you."

"Die," he said casually, and I could hear the note of amusement in his tone. "None of you would make it without me running your lives."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the sad, sad truth." I paused, thinking I should probably go help Heero. "Are you busy tomorrow night?"

"Not particularly, why?"

"Come by," I suggested hopefully. "You sound like you need a break."

He laughed at that and I heard him switch ears. "All right. How does eight thirty sound?"

"Perfect. See you then."

"Good night and… keep an eye on those two."

I grinned. "Will do. Night."

Clicking the phone off I leaned back on the couch fully, bringing my arms up to rest my hands behind my head. Geezus. Things could never be black-and-white simple for us, could they? Just when what promised to be a normal life begins to come together, all this shit happens. Relena, leader of the world and mother of one, is killed, leaving The World's Most Inept Father in charge of her child. The press, for lack of anything better to do, starts breaking into the labs that could have open nasty old wounds about our past making everyone just a little bit nervous. Wu Fei starts acting nicely and Trowa goes missing.

Where does it end?

When do we get to call it quits and live an even semi normal life?

I want my biggest problem, for once, to be that gas has gone up in price or that our dog needs a bath. I want the only thing I have to complain about to be that I couldn't find what I wanted at the grocery store or that the kids across the street were being too loud. Or maybe even something fantastically simple like not being able to open the mayonnaise jar. Those are the sort of things I want to go wrong; the ones where no one's life is in danger if you screw up- even if you screw up a lot.

Heaving a sigh I clambered to my feet to see how far along Heero had gotten. The house had grown suspiciously silent and I was a little afraid something had happened. I stashed my boots by the front door and turned off the lights we'd turned on when we entered. Heero was so bad about leaving lights on where-ever he went; it really drove me crazy sometimes. But I never complained. I think in his own way it was a proclamation of safety. It was a small, silent declaration of 'I'm so safe now that I can leave the lights on and not worry about someone finding me' and that made me feel very, very good inside.

When I pushed open the door to Mara's room, I found him next to the child bed, half sitting on his knees and half laying draped on the edge. The little night-light in the corner bathed them both in a soft blue glow. Mara was asleep already, tiny fingers wrapped around one of Heero's. He was just staring at her, thumb stroking gently across the back of her hand. Smiling, I leaned against the doorframe, crossing my arms. Without even looking over, he broke the silence.

"Were we ever this little?"

"Yeah. Once upon a time…"

I know I sounded a bit more regretful than I should have, but I couldn't help it. Both Heero and I had missed most of our childhoods. He'd been in heavy training even then and I'd been trying too hard just to survive to be able to be a kid. How could I not regret losing everything our lives could have been?

Then again, I should have to ask because I know that it was all worth it. I know that surrendering our lives to a chosen path like we did saved countless lives. Our sacrifice meant that children like Mara all over would be able to grow up normally in a world not torn by war. Their happiness had to be worth it.

"I don't remember. It makes sense but I just don't… I remember being young, but not like this. We were never like this."

I shouldered away from the doorframe and crossed the few steps to his side. He looked up at me and I sighed. "If we had been, no one else would have been able to be like this, right?"

Very gently he tugged his finger out of her grasp and clambered to his feet. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

I put my arms around his neck and smiled for him again, wishing that he would tell me exactly what was going on inside that mixed up brain of his. "Don't wear that face, it doesn't suit you. What are you worried about?"

"I just don't want anything… bad to happen." Sighing, he rested his head against my collarbone. "It's nothing, really."

"Heero," I murmured, laying a quick kiss to his temple. "It's going to be okay. Hey, if we made it through the first day we can make it through anything."

He made a sort of noise and I couldn't tell whether he was agreeing or disagreeing but he picked up his head and moved out of my grasp toward the door. "Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's just go to bed. I have work…" He paused in the doorway and turned to look at me. "Actually…"

I grinned. "Actually you don't. Unless you were lying about taking the time off work…"

"I wasn't." He watched me take a few steps toward him before continuing. "What are the plans for tomorrow?"

"Haven't really got any." I almost completely closed the door behind me as I exited. "We showed her around and she met the dog already… I guess we should just spend time with her and get her used to being here." We moved down the hall together in silence.

He let me enter first and I flopped down on the bed, clothes and all. Raising an eyebrow, he removed his shirt. "You shouldn't get on the bed in those dirty clothes, Duo," he admonished.

I watched as he folded his shirt and dropped it neatly into his clothes hamper. "Are you suggesting I strip before getting into bed?"

"Don't make me repeat myself." He smirked, unbuttoning his pants.

Grinning, I followed his example and began to undress. "Wouldn't dream of it." Before I got very far, however, I recalled that we now had a toddler in the house. "Hey, close the door."

Again, he raised an eyebrow at me. "Why?"

"Because Mara's in the other room."

"It's asleep already."

"_She_," I growled, sitting on the edge of the bed. Of course, Heero had never been around young children. While I can't say I'm an expert, I could very clearly recall waking up in the middle of the night for any number of reasons when I'd been young. I'd been woken on numerous occasions by the other children, when they woke. "And they don't sleep through the night like we do, Heero."

Moving so that he was standing between my knees, he shrugged. "Then shouldn't we leave it open? _It_ probably can't open doors yet and if we're needed then that could be a problem."

"Call her "it" one more time, Yuy, and I swear I'll- hey!"

He'd grabbed both my wrists and pushed me back on the bed so that I was laying on my back, my legs still over the edge. "You'll _what_?" He crawled halfway onto the bed atop me, teasing with an obviously fake scowl.

"I'll knock your nnngh…" Whatever I'd thought I would knock was promptly forgotten with the way he shifted against me. "Ah!" my head tilted back as I caught a wandering hand and smiled. "Close the door or I'll knock your fucking lights out, Heero Yuy," I managed, trying to catch my breath.

He grinned, not taking me the least bit seriously. "No." With a quick slip and flick motion he'd grabbed hold of both my wrists and pinned my arms above my head. Gravity was definitely on his side. "Now what?"

Closing the last few inches between our faces I kissed him, feeling him smile beneath my lips. It was so, so nice to see him happy again. He'd been so weird the last week that it had begun to scare me. He responded like his normal self now, though, moving and flowing with my motions. I could have lost myself to him completely in that moment.

Finally we pulled apart and he switched control of my hands to only one hand, trailing the other lightly down my chest. I shivered, watching with inexplicably focused attention. I know I made a noise when his fingers dipped into the lines of my hips but I lost quite a bit of coherency a moment later so I can't tell you what sound it was.

"Daaddyy?"

We both froze, eyes widening. Heero moved first, although it was less of a motion and more of a falling off the bed as he scrambled for a blanket. I rolled onto my side and grabbed the edge of the sheets, pulling them over myself just in time to sit as Mara came into view at our door. She gave us both a funny look; although I suppose she had every right to do so. Heero was hiding behind the side of the bed and I must have been quite the sight.

"Yes, Mara?"

"I'm firsty."

I gave Heero a dubious glance before replying. "Firsty?"

She nodded very seriously, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Please?"

Racking my brain for what she could possibly be asking me, I finally stumbled upon an answer. "Oh! Thirsty!" Not quite sure what to do, I said the first thing that came to mind. "Would you like some water?" Again, she nodded. "Okay sweetie. Why don't you go back to your room and I'll bring you a glass of water."

She looked at me for a second before shuffling away again. Relaxing, I clambered to my feet and snatched up my pants from where I'd left them on the floor. Before I left, I fixed Heero with a very stern glare. "_That_ is why you close the door, Heero."

"Shut up. How was I supposed to know it really would get up in the middle of the night…" He began quickly fixing the bedcovers, glaring sullenly at the task instead of meeting my eyes.

"Hm, maybe because I told you?" I said sarcastically. "I'll be back," my voice dropped on the edge of the last word, "and when I get back, I'm going to teach you how to listen."

"That'll be the day," he muttered, glancing over with half a grin.

I only smirked, setting off down the hall to fetch a glass of water.

* * *

/**End Chapter Fifteen, Inheritance**/

* * *


	17. Chapter Sixteen

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the "R" rating (the fucking new rating system is a fantastic display of stupidity and I will stick with the old one thankyouverymuch.). Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen

* * *

**

I woke the next morning to an empty bed and a ringing phone. When I shouted for Heero to get it, as he was obviously already up, I received no response. Grumbling sleepily to myself, I rolled out of bed and grabbed something at least semi decent to wear as I headed for the front room. Unfortunately the phone stopped ringing just before I reached it and the answering machine whirred to life.

"Heero, this is Wu Fei. I got the information you wanted, give me a call when you get this."

Raising an eyebrow at the message, I grabbed the cordless phone off the cradle and pressed delete. I made my way back to the bedroom, scrubbing at one eye with my palm. Wu Fei almost never called and Heero asked people to call even less often. I would have thought that if he was expecting someone to call he would have been inside waiting. I changed into better clothes and checked Mara's room on the way to find myself a pair of shoes. It looked like they had gone somewhere.

The remains of breakfast were on the table when I glanced into the kitchen for them; and I don't mean they were on plates or bowls on the table. No, there was cereal and milk all over the table, dripping down the legs and onto the floor. Groaning, I grabbed the dishes that were left on the table and set them in the sink. I rinsed a sponge and wiped up the milk and crushed cereal all over the place. Heero was definitely going to get an earful when he returned.

I was just about to head to the front of the house to check for a car when I heard Artemis barking in the back yard. There was no way Heero would have just left her out there if he'd gone somewhere with Mara. Rolling my eyes, I moved to the back of the house and glanced out as I quietly opened the door.

Sure enough, there they were in the backyard by the small swing-set fort the Maguanacs had delivered for her. Heero was standing at the base of the little four foot slide, looking a little confused. Standing at the top, Mara was talking about a mile a minute at him as he stared at her. Small bits of words were all I could hear but none of it sounded wholly coherent. I curbed my first instinct to call out to them and settled in the arch of the back door, leaning against the frame to watch. Not even Artemis noticed me as she paced around them happily, great fluffy tail wagging as fast as I'd ever seen it go.

Without warning she darted forward and practically threw herself down onto the slide. My heart leapt along with her and I saw the panic that flashed across Heero's face. He wasn't totally unprepared, however, and managed to get his hands on her just before she hit the ground. With the enthusiasm that only a small child can muster, she wriggled out of his grasp and dashed back to the ladder to have another go. Artemis did her very best to interfere, licking and nudging at her every step of the way.

It was quite a relief to know that not only was everyone getting along but they were enjoying themselves. I hadn't wanted to admit it but Heero wasn't the only one I'd worried about. I mean, yes, our life was now changing in a fairly drastic manner but Mara's whole world had been taken away from her. She didn't have the same family or the same home, the same caretakers or the same anything. Everything was unfamiliar.

But maybe it didn't seem so awful to her. After all, she was very young and at the moment, maybe it all seemed like a game. Somehow I didn't think that she understood that she would never see her mother again. I don't think she understood what had happened or how the changes were going to affect her life. I think that the only thing she really understood was the present. She understood Heero's smiling face and Artemis' elated barking and it didn't matter what else was wrong at the time as long as something was right.

I smiled, watching her try to make it up the ladder on her own. She was definitely Relena's child with the stubborn way she looked at Heero and the determined "I'm going to do this for myself" posture. There was no way she had the motor skills to make it all the way to the platform but she sure as hell was going to give it her best. Artemis wasn't helping her difficult journey, trying to lick her face and preventing her from even getting past the first step. Crazy dog.

She did eventually make it past that first step, but it was not without hazard. Artemis, in her enthusiasm, accidentally knocked Mara's foot off the rung. Footing lost, Mara made a flailing attempt to keep her hold and stay on the ladder but lost it only a second later. I felt a noise of worry scratch at the back of my throat but Heero was already on the move. Normally I might have moved to help but I wanted to see what he thought he was going to do.

For a moment it looked as if he wasn't going to do anything at all. She stared up and him and he stared down at her and both of them seemed to be deciding whether or not she was hurt. He looked a little bewildered; I'd guess that no one had ever looked to him to make sure that they were all right. When he made no attempt to reassure her, though, all hell broke loose. Her face screwed up like she'd tasted something particularly sour and that little bitty mouth opened and let out the loudest sound known to mankind- that ear-piercing, panic-inducing wail that only small children can produce.

To make the situation just a little bit worse (mind you by "a little worse" I mean "as bad as it could possibly be"), Artemis began barking at her. Of course Heero has the common sense god gave a gnat and he just stood there, staring at her as if she were going to burst into flame if he tried to touch her. It was just as I started to move forward to remedy the situation that he did the unexpected.

He bent his knees and stooped down beside her, catching her attention with a wave of his hand.

She looked up at him when he spoke then, tears uncertainly halted momentarily. Whatever he was so quietly telling her, it worked. She hesitantly held up her arms and he reached over to lift her onto his lap as he sat. Still speaking very gently he held out both his hands, palm up, and she laid hers on top of his. It was amazing to see the way she watched him with wide eyes, more curious about what he was doing than she was interested in crying. Even more amazing was the soft smile gracing Heero's lips. He almost never smiled like that.

I couldn't help but smile too when he raised both their hands to his lips and kissed the tops of hers. From where I stood I could hear her laughing and see her squirm out of his grasp and head for the ladder again, ready to pick up right where she'd left off. Leaning back on his hands, he allowed himself a smile of smug satisfaction when he looked over to me.

The look he sent me was one that very plainly said "I knew you were there, now what do you plan to do about it?"

Of course I couldn't let him off easy.

"So the tough guy _does_ have a soft spot," I teased, loud enough that Mara looked over to me as well. Though Heero just returned an unimpressed look, Mara brightened.

"Watch this!" she trilled, turning and making her way up the ladder very purposefully. When she reached the top she turned to make sure that I was watching and then moved for the slide. "Watch me!"

Heero rolled to the side and got to his feet in time to make sure she didn't hurt herself getting to the bottom. He picked her up and despite her protests, carried her over to the deck. As soon as he set her down I tossed the phone his way and he raised an eyebrow in question.

"Wu Fei called, wants you to call him back," I said simply before turning my attention to the child. "Are you having fun, Mara?"

"We made brekkast and walked wif Armis and-" I really only caught about half her words as she kept going, broadening her tale to include gestures just in case I didn't understand fully. I glanced to Heero, wondering how he'd managed to do all of what she was enthusiastically explaining to me.

"I'm not completely incompetent," he remarked, moving past me into the house. I could hear the phone being dialed as he turned the corner.

When I looked back to Mara, she was staring silently at me with wide eyes. I tried to keep the reluctance off my face as I smiled and tried to remember how Father Maxwell and Sister Helen had taken care of me and the other orphans. Of course we'd been older than Mara so it was different but there had to be some sort of basic principle to it. Smile a lot, I know- they'd always been smiling. I guess they'd always asked me questions and more importantly they'd listened to the answers.

"Would you like to play inside for a bit?" If I had to hazard a guess, I would say they'd all been outside since early this morning. I vaguely remembered something about an afternoon nap, but it was just barely late enough to eat lunch. Even so, it would probably be a good idea to start winding down early.

Now, I know she asked me a question. I could even tell that she was asking to watch something. What did she want to watch? If my life depended upon it I could not tell you. Her words came out in a fast, almost gibberish blur and she expected me to understand. She expected that I would know what she was talking about when she said "Cannee watch mistamidgey?"

"Sure!" I agreed, smiling and nodding like I knew what a mistamidgey was. I suspected it was a video or some sort of show that she was accustomed to watching. All I could really do was hope that she would be able to pick it out of the tapes that had been left with us.

She sat and haphazardly pulled her shoes off as soon as she was through the back door and made a bee-line right out of my sight. I followed her and caught a strange look from Heero as I passed the hallway toward the front room. With a quick goodbye, he hung up on Wu Fei. I assumed it was Wu Fei, even though I didn't ask.

"What are we doing now?" He asked drolly, following me.

"Watching mistamidgey apparently," I answered, giving him an "I have no idea" shrug when he looked at me like I was crazy.

After much shifting and dumping of tapes and disks, Mara presented us with a violently bright colored case that read "The Adventures of Master Midge." The character on the front was dressed in foppish court robes and sat atop a strangely disproportionate horse. I can't say as I've ever seen a horse with eyebrows, either, but Mara seemed very pleased to have found it.

Heero and I exchanged dubious looks. "It's up to you, Papa," I said, smirking just a tiny bit around my mask of innocence. "I have to run into work for a bit to let them know what's happening and figure out what I'm going to do."

"You can't call?" Heero asked skeptically.

"They'll want me there in person. I'm either going to have to change my hours completely or get someone to watch her during the day. We can't just leave her here alone all day."

"If we lock it in its room we can." He said it with a very serious face but I could hear the undisguised smile in his voice.

"We are not locking _her_ in her room, Heero."

He signed resignedly as he grabbed the video out of my hands. "You realize if you switch to nights I'll never see you again."

"Ah, I could only be so lucky!" I teased, letting a grin spread across my lips as he shot me a glare. "Yes, I know. We'd still have weekends and I can take a day off during the week. So can you if you want to get right down to it. It's not like we exactly need the money."

Which was true, for the most part. The only reason Heero and I had picked up jobs at all was to blend in with the rest of the general population. If we just went wandering around and never left the house, I'm sure the neighbors would have begun to suspect something. A job did a lot more than just help us blend in, though. It gave Heero a chance to socialize (I can dream, can't I?) and it gave both of us something to _do_. If we didn't have somewhere to expend energy we'd have both gone stir crazy in a matter of weeks. Picking up a decent job had been my idea originally but Heero took it very seriously now. It was almost like he needed it.

I sometimes thought he did.

He popped the disk into the player and our TV fritzed for a second before displaying the same myriad of color as the disk's case. "I suppose that could work…" he grudgingly admitted. The show began to play as soon as he pressed start.

Mara clambered onto the couch after a brief struggle. It was more of a heft and roll than actual climbing; the couch was rather tall. As soon as she was settled she gave us both a very serious look and put a finger to her lips to tell us to be quiet. I contained a laugh and backed into the hallway, motioning for Heero to follow me to the kitchen so we could finish our conversation.

"Are you going to be all right here with her while I go?"

"I managed the whole morning, didn't I?"

"Mm, good point. I probably won't be gone long anyhow."

He gave me a searching look for a second and I waited patiently for him to tell me what was on his mind. Finally his expression went a little blank and he started to move past me. "Don't do anything long term yet, okay? Let's just… we'll work out something so it's the best situation."

That was at least a reasonable request so I simply nodded, giving him a bright smile. It was good to see him adapting so quickly- I'd expected a lot more resistance. "I can do that. Do you want me to pick up dinner?"

"No," he said, disappearing into the front room. "Isn't Quatre coming over tonight? Why don't we order something?"

"Mara's not going to want anything we order," I pointed out, following him. "We were told to feed her bland foods, right?"

"Well _Mara_ won't be staying up past nine, if even that late." He flopped down onto the couch beside her, spreading his arms along the back of it. "We can eat then. I'm not going to be eating kid food; I was done with that phase a long time ago."

"All right, all right," I said, holding my hands up a bit in surrender. I should have known better than to start an argument about food with Heero. "I'll see you in a few hours."

Even though I took my phone with me, I'm glad I didn't need to use it. Heero hadn't lied when he said he could handle the situation. I admit I'd been afraid to leave him alone with the kid for any length of time but after seeing him that morning I'd begun to think that maybe he wouldn't make such a bad father. Mara had certainly taken to him as if she'd been around him all her life. I wasn't sure how long that would last before she wanted to know where her mother was, though. I tried not to think about it while I drove.

The people at work were understanding and those that weren't became understanding after Hilde laid into them. I'd forgotten that she was already there and that she would probably have told everyone what was happening in my life. She and I practically ran the place, despite that we'd elected a few people to actually head the scrap yard. As far as I knew our facility was the only one where mobile suits were allowed to be scrapped into parts any longer. When the war had ended there were several places open to the idea but after Mariemaia's stunt we had decided that allowing mobile suits to exist at all was just too dangerous. The Preventers had set up a couple of places and a few years later we were the only one still in operation. I know that Hilde at least enjoyed the work.

"How's it going at home?" she asked, as soon as I was in the front door.

Grinning, I moved farther into the entrance building. "Heero's actually taking it quite well and Mara seems to be settling in all right. She hasn't thrown a tantrum or asked where her mother is or anything too out of order."

"Don't jinx it," she warned, following me through the hallways. "What about you?"

"What _about_ me?"

"Well," she shifted the clipboard she was holding nervously in her hands, "it's just that taking a kid into your home is probably really hard. Adopting a kid neither of you had connections to is one thing but she's actually Heero's daughter. Is that really okay with you?"

Most people, were they to ask a question like that, might have seemed as though they were prying too far or for the wrong reasons, but I knew Hilde better than that. She wasn't trying to insinuate that I shouldn't be all right with it or that she thought I was having problems or that she thought I should stop. She was honestly worried about my welfare and whether or not I was doing as well as I looked like I was doing.

As much as I wanted to brush off the question, playing it down as something unimportant, I still didn't like to lie. Hilde deserved an honest answer.

"I don't know. I mean, yes it is okay right now. I did think about that but I don't… It would be senseless worrying. If something was going to happen, then it would happen whether or not I spent time fussing over the possibility."

"Yeah…" Her face brightened as she smiled. "I'm glad you think so positively! I think you and Heero are the best two people for that girl. Can I come see her sometime?"

That was one of the reasons I loved Hilde; she was so adaptable and cheerful. She'd been great to work with during the war, despite the fact that she often tried so hard she got herself into trouble. A friendly, happy face was always nice to see, especially in dark times. I agreed that she should come see all of us this weekend, once things had really settled.

After that I had spent a while talking to a couple of people to arrange for a week or two of absence, making sure that everything could be run without me. The men and women we'd put in charge practically fell over themselves to give me the time. I tried to keep from smiling the entire time; I was barely twenty years old and people treated me with more respect than people twice my age would have received. No matter how many times I told them to treat me like a normal person, I suppose none of them could forget who I'd been. Maybe it wasn't the best thing in the world (for them or for me) but it was amusing.

I left them with my cell phone number and a promise to show up if they really needed my help. By the time I was halfway home I realized that it was nearly two and I hadn't gotten a call from Heero. That gave me a small amount of comfort- I was probably worrying too much. We'd been through a war. It's not like Heero couldn't take care of himself and anyone else he needed to keep alive and well.

Then again, three year olds were really outside of his usual range of companions.

When I arrived home and the car was missing from the driveway. Artemis was barking herself silly inside and for a moment I thought about turning right around and checking the park for Heero and Mara but I figured that if I hadn't received a phone call then he obviously hadn't run into anything he couldn't handle on his own. Locking the car, I headed inside to see if he'd left a note.

But he hadn't.

I glanced around the kitchen and checked both room, even going so far as so poke my head out into the backyard. Artemis followed at my heel, tail wagging in slow, curious strokes at my strange behavior. I was a little irritated that they'd left no indication as to where they'd gone and hadn't called me before hand. I tried to tell myself that I should get used to it now; I've been told before that kids take off all the time without notification. Pulling my cell phone out of my pocket, I decided to give calling him a try. Maybe he's just stepped out for a bit for food or something.

There were a few seconds of delay and then, "You've reached the cell phone of _Heero__ Yuy_. If you would like to leave a call back number, please press one now. If you would like to leave a-"

I clicked the phone off, brow creasing. It hadn't even rung once. Was that Heero's voice mail? I'd only heard it a couple of times since he set it because… he was just like Trowa.

Heero _never_ turned off his phone. Ever.

First it was Trowa disappearing and now Heero? What the hell was going on?

* * *

/**End Chapter Sixteen, Inheritance**/

* * *


	18. Chapter Seventeen

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the "R" rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen

* * *

**

I squashed down the panic that was quickly rising in my chest. It was stupid. No one was after us. We weren't in danger. Life was normal and there had to be a reasonable explanation for why Heero had turned off his phone. It hadn't even rung so that meant it was off or…

Or maybe he had it on and he was talking to someone else. I always forgot that my phone went straight to voicemail if I was on the line.

I took a deep breath, berating myself for getting worked up so easily. All I had to do was call him back and leave a message and when he got off the phone he'd give me a ring. Simple. But I'd barely made the decision to do so when my phone rang. Startled, I flipped it open and answered.

"Duo? I just tried calling you but it didn't ring. Where are you?"

"Where am _I_?" I asked incredulously. "Where are you? Heero, you can't just disappear without leaving a note." I probably shouldn't have snapped but I was more than a little relieved.

"I left a note," he retorted, sounding a little irritated. "It's taped to the television because I thought you'd sit down to watch the news before we got back. Don't have a heart attack."

"I'm not." I took a deep breath and smiled, hoping it would show in my voice. "So where'd you guys go?"

"We took a ride to see what daycares in the area looked like." Daycares? Since when did Heero know what a daycare was? "There are some pretty nice ones if we're willing to do a bit of driving."

"Is it really okay to put her into a daycare? I mean… Shouldn't she be in special classes or something? She's the last Peacecraft. Relena would have expected her to take over once she got old enough…"

"I know, but honestly until we figure out something better… We're probably not the best choices to be taking care of a child all day and all night. I would be more comfortable if we could take this in smaller steps."

Pulling the phone away from my ear long enough to give it a strange look, I decided I was definitely asleep. I had to be dreaming. Heero never admitted a fault or doubt like that. It made me tingly inside to think that if he kept this behavior up he would someday be a real person...

"Okay," I agreed, allowing myself a smile. "Small steps. When are you guys going to be home?"

"Hour or two probably. I had two more places I wanted to drop by. We already had lunch so don't worry about that. Did you want me to pick up dinner?"

"We've got chicken nuggets in the freezer."

I had to choke back a laugh at the perfectly offended noise Heero made in the back of his throat at the suggestion. "Those are _dog treats_."

He was so particular about the strangest of things. I wasn't sure if he was worried about feeding them to Mara or about giving the dog's treats to someone other than the dog so I covered both bases easily. "They're perfectly safe and it's not like Artemis will mind." I rolled my eyes, ready to get off the phone already. "Just come home, all right? We'll make chicken nuggets for Mara and you and I can order Chinese or something later."

"Fine." The phone clicked off and I couldn't help dropping my head back in exasperation.

I closed my phone and tossed it on the counter. I couldn't believe that Heero was really getting into this parenting thing. It was like he'd done a complete 180 in a matter of days. Though I seriously wanted to think that he could just snap his fingers and change like that, I knew him better. I knew how stubborn he was and how much pride he had. I knew how he worked and right now he wasn't working right. Something very strange was going on and whatever it was, he'd apparently decided not to tell me. More than that, he was actively _hiding_ it from me, as though I wasn't trustworthy enough.

Bothered, I hopped over the back of the couch and settled into it, grabbing the TV remote from where I left it hidden between the cushions. I was confused about the piece of paper taped to the screen until I remembered that Heero had said he'd left a note. I got up and plucked it off, scanning the quickly (but very neatly) written "Went day-care searching, will return for dinner" before crumpling it and shoving it into my pocket.

I flopped back down and switched on the television. There had to be something distracting on television. I hated thinking in silence; it was almost as if I needed the background noise to think coherently. As soon as it flickered on I ignored it and began making a list of all the things Heero might possibly think he had to keep from me. What was so important (or so _insignificant_) that he couldn't tell _me_, of all people, about it?

Actually, it could have been anything. If I'd learned nothing else during my time fighting in the war, I'd learned that events that seemed connected… often weren't. That didn't mean that they didn't affect each other or that one unconnected event wasn't advantageous to another. It just meant I had to be more careful making any sort of assumption.

Of course, by now you've probably guessed that my first guess was that his behavior had something to do with Relena or Mara. It was an obvious factor; maybe the _most_ obvious factor. Relena gets killed and a kid gets theoretically dumped into Heero's lap. He protests up and down until the kid arrives and then suddenly becomes sweet and considerate. _Overly_ sweet and considerate, if you want my opinion. I'd never seen him take to anyone so fast and thoroughly. I could chalk it up to the fact that he can't hate kids but that just… didn't seem valid enough. He wouldn't have protested as much as he had if disliking kids was the reason. That's not how he works. If Heero dislikes something he either changes it or waits for someone to notice he doesn't like it so that **they** can change it. So if he didn't like the idea of having Mara, he would have found a quieter way around it.

But… the girls weren't the only factors anymore- Wu Fei had been acting strangely as well. He almost never just showed up to seek Heero's company, especially not when Heero was at work. Calling was out of the question, but he'd done that, too. Not to mention that Heero had called him back immediately instead of later, like he usually would have done for any phone call he received.

Then there was Trowa, who wasn't calling anyone. Normally that would concern Heero, but he'd brushed it off when I mentioned it. He hadn't asked about it since then, either, and I very much doubt that he'd called Quatre to check up on either of them.

Add to all of that the fact that the old labs were being unearthed, a situation that could be a little _too_ revealing about our pasts. Sure, they probably didn't have much on me, but even if _nothing_ they found had to do with me… I would still be affected if it concerned any of my friends. Say they found something about Heero? Quatre? I mean… There was a world of possibilities and I admit I was somewhat scared of how little I knew about everyone. I wanted to believe that I was strong enough to consider them to be the same people I've always known but... I suspect there's a point where you can only know so much about someone before you can't know them any more.

I didn't want to ever find that point with anyone, much less my friends.

So I did the only logical thing- I stopped thinking. The longer I thought, the worse things seemed and without someone there to talk to I knew it would quickly be too much for me to handle. It had always been that way; if I stopped talking, I started thinking and if I started thinking I would think myself into a hole I couldn't escape.

It was a couple hours later when Heero finally arrived; Artemis didn't even flinch. He was the only one she never barked at if she knew he was coming. I was so completely zoned out in front of the television that I didn't even notice them enter. I probably could have ignored them all night except for the fact that Heero knocked me around the head with a bag of bread as soon as I was within range. It was with lightning fast reflexes and years of training that I got myself to my feet in time to-

"Help bring in the groceries."

To help… bring in the groceries. Right. "Groceries? I thought you were coming right home," I asked skeptically.

He raised one eyebrow in my direction and then turned toward the kitchen. "I said I had two more places to stop. Market was one of them now go help."

Secretly amused, I hop-slid over the back of the couch and disappeared with Artemis to the outside. Mara was making her way up the front steps carrying a box of cereal in both arms. Behind her like a little treasure trail was another box of cereal, a box of granola bars, a bag of chips, and a package of crackers that had been opened. Halfway between the car and the house lay the remains of the paper bag that had housed them all.

"I carried a seeral!" She announced quite proudly upon sight of me.

"Haha… That's great Mara, good job," I said weakly, smiling as I knelt to grab the crackers before Artemis could eat too many of them. "Take it in to Papa, okay?"

"Okay!"

Now see… I'm used to people doing what I tell them if they say okay. I'm used to "okay" being an agreement to get something accomplished. Apparently no one tells this to three year olds though. I swear I only turned my back on her for a second- just long enough to grab the second box of cereal… but apparently one second is just too much time.

When I turned around it took me a moment to realize what she was doing. The cereal box she was carrying must have been opened by Heero earlier because she had it wide open now. Artemis was quickly becoming her friend with every mouthful of sugary treats she was being hand fed. Mara, for her part, was squealing and giggling as Artemis licked her hands clean and moved for her face.

"Artemis!" I reprimanded sharply. Immediately her ears flattened and her tail tucked as she turned to look at me. "Get in the house!" I pointed for emphasis and she gave me the guiltiest look anyone's ever given me. Mara stared between us with wide eyes, like she thought I was going to attack her next. "Take the cereal inside, sweetie." I said as gently as I was able. I guess I'd been a little more stressed than I thought I was.

She disappeared and I finished unloading the groceries from the car while Heero put them in the right places. We never bought all that much because there weren't things that we ate on a regular enough basis to buy them. In fact, we avoided that sort of behavior; repetition. There were a lot of very bland, normal things this time like more chicken nuggets, fish sticks, hot dogs, and potato chips. I knew he wouldn't eat any of them- most of the things he'd bought were things he considered to be "dog treats," which made me wonder who picked them out- him or Mara.

By the time I thought to ask, however, they had both disappeared. As I checked the front room for them I heard the bath begin to run. Rolling my eyes, I flicked on the oven and opened the freezer to paw through the contents. Artemis padded around my legs, whining and begging; she knew where the chicken nuggets came from. I tossed one to her as soon as I found the old box and set about making the others.

It wasn't long before Heero and Mara returned, both of them looking more wet for wear. I grinned, helping Mara up onto one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "I thought the water was supposed to stay _in_ the tub, Heero?"

He shot me a nasty glare and took a seat as well. "It _was_ until someone decided bath time was over and made a run for it." He eyed the chicken nuggets rather dubiously. "We're getting something else."

"I know," I responded a little testily. We'd been over this once before and I'd agreed to ordering out somewhere. "I thought you were going to order Chinese."

Making a face, he shook his head. "I'm not really in the mood for Chinese."

"Thai?"

Another face. "Too similar."

"Well then you pick!" I said, exasperated. Mara looked up, glancing between us with a slightly bewildered expression.

"Watch your tone, Duo." He stood, grabbing the phone off the wall cradle and looked idly at the keys as he leaned against the counter. "What about that Italian place down the street?"

"Someone would have to go get it." I took a seat and watched Mara coat half a chicken nugget with far too much ketchup.

"Then _someone_ can go get it when I put Mara to bed." He smiled in an overly sweet way before dialing. "What do you want?"

I rolled my eyes, resigning myself. "I don't care." He gave me a wolfish smile the second the words were out of my mouth, and began ordering… in Chinese. "You sneaky bas-…" I cut myself off, glancing to Mara who was paying neither of us any attention.

Heero thanked the person on the other end of the phone and tossed it at me to hang up. "I'm going to go change," he told me, picking at his still wet clothes.

"Did you order extra?" I asked, setting the phone back on the cradle.

"Yeah." He disappeared down the hall. "When is he supposed to be here?"

"Eight… eight-thirty. Not sure, somewhere around then. I guess it depends on when he can make it out here, right?"

"You're being awfully argumentative tonight." I could hear him opening drawers in the room as he shouted. "What's wrong?"

What wasn't? He was acting painfully normal and so was I and it was completely unnerving. Apparently I wasn't doing quite as great an acting job as I'd hoped. "It's been a kind of long day," I replied.

"That's not a real answer."

"I know."

"Well you can't-" there was a muffled noise and a moment later he appeared in the kitchen doorway again. "You can't just act weird and not talk about it. That's not like you…"

"I'm not the only one acting really weird," I grumbled. Giving him a bit of a grumpy sidelong glare, I sighed. "What's up with you lately?"

"What do you mean?"

I snorted, trying to put my thoughts together like I had earlier. "It's like you're… I dunno, bi-polar or something. One minute you're arguing with me like your life depends upon it and the next you're playing the sweet boyfriend card. I just want to know what's going on."

"What are you talking about?" He gave me a hard look as though he thought I'd completely lost my mind.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Something is happening and you know what it is and you aren't telling me. I want to know. I think I deserve to know, especially if it involves me." I saw a protest on the tip of his tongue so I kept going before he could say anything. "And don't you tell me it doesn't, Heero Yuy, because I know it does.

We watched each other silently for a long moment before he drew a deep breath and seemed to resign himself to giving away at least a little bit. "If you're talking about Wu Fei calling and going out with me, it's not a big deal. He was having some trouble and he wanted to talk to me about it." He shrugged nonchalantly. "He solved it, so it's over and done."

"And Trowa? He's been missing, you know, and you don't seem very concerned about that."

"Duo- it's Trowa. He can take care of himself; we all can. You know that." He moved into the room and pulled a glass out of the cupboard. "I'm sure he'll be back in contact soon."

"You know… it wouldn't kill you to talk about those sorts of things," I told him, leaning back in my chair to watch him get a glass of water. "People worry about you when you get all weird."

"You're the only one that worries," he pointed out matter of factly.

"So that's one more person than should have to worry!" Before we could argue further, the doorbell rang. For a moment I was confused, having forgotten we were having company. I scooted my chair out as Heero gave me a curious look. Realization dawned on him just as I spoke. "It's Quatre," I said, getting up and pushing my chair in again. "I'll be back."

When I opened the door, Quatre turned around and smiled cheerfully as he handed me a stack of papers several inches thick, tucked into a manila folder. "Good evening!"

"Good something," I said, cracking a smile as I flipped open the front of the folder. "What's all this?"

"That is…" he looked dubiously at the stack, "everything."

"Everything?" I echoed, looking up at him curiously.

"Yeah. It's got her birth certificate, bank account information, doctor forms, Relena's death certificate and a copy of her Will." He paused for a second, as though trying to remember what else there was. "Oh yes," he said, meeting my eyes with a mischievous smile, "I also had them transfer all the documents showing that you and Heero are now her legal guardians. She's yours for real now."

"You're the best."

"I know." He glanced around me as he took off his shoes. "Where would you all be if I wasn't?"

"Lost, for sure." I felt that familiar tingle of worry spread through me as I said the words, remembering how Trowa had fallen out of contact with us. "Any news on Trowa?"

A very strange, mixed expression crossed his face when I mentioned it but it disappeared as quickly as it came, replaced by a serious look. "I'll talk to you about it later, alone, okay?"

An unsettlingly large lump settled in the pit of my stomach at the way he said those words, but I merely nodded. If he wanted to talk later, we could talk later. "Okay."

He smiled. It was weak at first but I could almost see him shove the worry to the back of his mind and forget it. "Where is she? Mara?"

"Finishing dinner," I said, closing the door as I resolved to let the bad things lie for the moment. "Chicken nuggets and ketchup."

Quatre made about the same face as I did at the choice of food. None of us were fans of anything bland. "You too?"

"No, thank goodness. Heero actually ordered Chinese. We were going to put her to bed when it got here."

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" he asked as we entered the kitchen.

"Not at all."

Heero glanced up and gave a silent wave that Quatre returned. Mara looked very seriously at Quatre for a moment before turning those big blue eyes my way as if accusing me of bringing someone into the house.

"Eat your dinner," Heero said quietly, poking at her chicken nuggets to draw her attention back to them.

"We ordered for you, too." Quatre's eyebrows rose in surprise as he looked back to me. I grinned, offering him a seat. "We knew you would be over, so why not? It's not like you don't order the same thing every time."

"Almond chicken with spring rolls on the side, no sauces, white rice," Heero said in unison with Quatre and all of us smiled. "Good to know I'm predictable."

"I think we'd all be lost if you weren't, Quatre," Heero said honestly. "There has to be something in life we can count on to remain the same."

We fell silent after that and Mara watched us curiously as she ate the rest of her chicken nuggets. She and Quatre started up a conversation of sorts when she offered him a nugget, although I expect that he didn't understand much of what she was telling him. He was a very good sport about it, though, and laughed quite a bit.

"I think it's about bedtime," Heero said after a little while. It was quite clear that Mara caught the drift of what he'd said because she sank low to the table and gave him quite a pathetic look.

"I think so, too." I was about to say more when the doorbell rang. I glanced curiously to Heero and he shrugged.

"Chinese?" He offered as though I'd asked.

"Oh yeah…" I pushed myself away from the table and stood. "Why don't you guys put Mara to bed and I'll get the food?"

The entire bothersome day seemed worth the while when I saw Quatre smile at the suggestion. "Great!" He clambered to his feet much faster than Heero. "Mara, can you show me your room?"

"Yeah!" She exclaimed, slithering to the floor from where she'd been standing on the chair. "I show you, follow me!"

She bolted out of the room with Quatre right behind her. I could hear them talking in her room as I turned to Heero and flashed a smile. "I think we aren't the ones that need a kid."

When he smiled I felt something within me relax. It was a real smile, the kind he only gave me when there wasn't anything else on his mind. "I think you're right."

Quatre came back a short while later and dug into his food almost immediately. I was surprised at how quiet an affair the entire dinner was. Heero made a weak attempt at starting a conversation and Quatre, in turn, made a weak attempt at continuing it. Neither did a very good job and I think it was just easier for them to be silent than to worry about making small talk. That's all it was anyhow; nonsense that neither of them needed or wanted at that moment.

It was almost ten when Quatre got up and helped me clear the table. He and Heero said their goodbyes before Heero went to check on Mara so as soon as we were finished dumping the remains of dinner into the trash, we escaped to the front porch. Quatre pulled up just short of the edge of the porch and stood there, staring out at the street for a long moment. He seemed so lost, so… not himself today.

I gently closed the door behind me and gave Quatre a searching look. I knew better than to say anything though. When he was ready to tell me what he had to say, he would and asking before then was rude. Whatever was on his mind couldn't be terribly good, judging by the way he fiddled with his car keys and refused to look me in the eyes. It worried me to see him like that; Quatre wasn't supposed to get nervous.

"Trowa called last night," he said suddenly, as if he was afraid he'd never say it if he didn't say it quickly. "After I hung up with you, he did."

Nodding slowly, I let myself drop back against the door as I crossed my arms. "Is everything all right?" I tried to sound as neutral as I could but it didn't work very well. Honestly I was afraid he was going to drop some horrible news on me which I wouldn't be able to handle and that sort of inability on my part would only make a situation like that worse.

"I didn't get to talk to him for very long; his connection was shot." Which said a lot; mobile phones generally got great reception via satellite and hard lines almost never suffered connection failure. "He said he was with the circus in the colonies. I guess he must have left quickly…"

"What? Without saying goodbye to you?"

He winced; I'd obviously hit the nail on the head. "I know it seems strange," he said diplomatically, like he was trying to reason it out to make logical sense. "But if the circus needed him for something right away, I can see where he might not have had time. I don't want to worry about it if he's all right. He said he would be back soon."

Honestly… I wanted to be there with Quatre in that not-worrying place but I knew better and so did he. The entire thing reeked of conspiracy. Trowa didn't just pack up and go so far without telling anyone. The worst thing a person can possibly do is go somewhere without telling anyone else where they are going, how long they'll be there and when they'll be back. It's the best way to get into trouble because if you disappear, no one may know to look for you until it's too late. I knew that. Quatre knew that. Trowa knew that. Everyone knew.

I couldn't just leave it alone for Quatre, as much as I didn't want to add to his list of worries. "But leaving without even a phone call beforehand?"

"I know," Quatre agreed with a sigh. "He said his phone died." He held up one hand to stop me before I could protest. "Duo, I know. It doesn't exactly sit right with me, either. But… If that is what he wants me to think, I'm going to think that. If it's important, I'm sure he will tell me before I need to know."

Though I didn't want to resign myself to waiting as Quatre obviously had, I didn't see that there was much of a choice. If Trowa wasn't telling Quatre something then there was no way he would tell me. Of course I would ask him later anyway, but I already knew I wouldn't get an answer.

"Yeah," I agreed quietly. "Let me know if you figure out anything. Everyone's been acting a little strange lately."

That earned me half a decent smile from him, at least. "I will. Take care."

"You too."

I watched him walk down the driveway and slip into his car. It always surprised me to see him driving his own car instead of allowing someone to drive him. I knew how much money he had and how much he made and yet he still hated to let people do things for him. He still preferred to do things with his own two hands. It was nice; kept things… real. Grounded. Nuances in behavior like that were the things that we could safely bring to our futures from our pasts.

Sighing, I opened the door and let myself half fall inside. The bolt slid home almost if its own accord and I turned around to head to the bedroom. Heero was standing in the hallway, watching me with a curious look. I didn't want to talk to him. I didn't want to listen to him avoid telling me anything else and I knew that if I tried talking to him now that we'd only bicker. Again. I didn't want to start a fight with him; not tonight, not tomorrow… I could do without fighting for a while.

So when he reached out to stop me from moving past, I shrugged off his hand and just kept walking.

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/**End Chapter Seventeen, Inheritance**/

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	19. Chapter Eighteen

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Author: Sparkle Itamashii Title: Inheritance 

Warnings: Respect the "R" rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

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**Chapter Eighteen

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**

"-preparing for the art faire, which is to take place later this week in Winter Park. Volunteers arrived early this morning to aide city officials in preparing the park for what looks like the biggest fall festival in years."

I laid my head back against the back of the couch as the television continued to drone on and on about local events. I knew that I should start dinner before Heero got back but my body wasn't up to moving at all, much less making food. Besides, Mara was asleep on the couch next to me, head resting at an awkward but apparently comfortable position against my thigh. Artemis was sleeping beneath the television in front of the stand; even she was pooped after today.

Mara had woken me at 6:30, tearing around the front room and splattering the floor with dozens upon dozens of videos. Heero had left the house without saying a word to me and he'd cruelly left Mara on the loose. As soon as I got her under control and eating a decent breakfast, I'd given him a call and a piece of my mind. I'd been forced to forgive him when he said that he was in town seeing about a daycare for Mara. Mostly I was just secretly glad he hadn't snuck into work or something; I'd have definitely had to kill him for that.

As it was, I spent the day following Mara around where-ever she decided to go. 'We' picked a movie and watched it- and by watched it I mean Mara watched it while I cleaned up the disks she'd scattered everywhere. There were still two missing when I finished and after searching the entire room and parts of the rest of the house I was forced to conclude that we may not have had the disks to begin with because they were nowhere to be found.

After two more movies and lunchtime, it was time to romp to the park with Artemis and Mara wanted to try holding the leash. I told her no but she was rather insistent; I've never seen anyone throw a hissy fit before and I ended up giving her the leash based on the sheer volume she managed to obtain. How does someone with such little lungs make such a very loud noise? It made me wonder which of her parents she got the ability from in the first place. I wasted several minutes picturing a very small Heero throwing a very large fit in front of Doctor J.

Anyhow, giving Mara the leash was a very bad idea- one about which I later decided I should have known better. Artemis has always been fond of running and that day was no exception. As soon as she realized she was not attached to anyone that could stop her, she took off like a streak of lightning. Of course that yanked Mara forward as well and it was only by the grace of God that she let go and I was able to catch her before she fell. After that it was a good two hours of romping about trying to catch Artemis, who seemed to think we'd invented a fantastic new game.

We'd just finally gotten back from having dinner at a local fast food restaurant, which was the least disastrous event of the day, and I was already ready to just go to sleep for the night. Heero was supposed to be home shortly and with Mara taking a nap on the couch beside me I was taking some time to watch the evening news. I was secretly glad that Heero had gone looking into daycares; there was no way I could keep up with a little kid day in and day out and allowing Heero to try… Well, I wanted Mara to live.

I was just falling asleep thinking about daycares and listening to the news talk about something in the colonies when I heard the front door open. I heard Artemis pick up her head but she didn't bark so I knew it was only Heero. I forced myself back into groggy consciousness in time to see him stepping out of his shoes. From the way he was moving, like each motion was just a little too taxing, I could tell he was tired. I wriggled out from under Mara and laid her head carefully down upon the couch before slipping over to greet Heero.

"Well you certainly look beat," I said in a hushed voice.

He only offered me an exhausted smile. "A bit. How was today?"

"We… went to the park," I said, thinking to myself that it might be better if I didn't disclose further detail on that one.

"Aren't they setting up for that faire?" He gave me a quick kiss as he passed.

I rolled my eyes, dropping back and dogging after him with a grin. "Yeah, it's next week. What do you want for dinner?"

"I don't care. What were you guys planning on having?" He slung open the fridge and stared at the contents as though he'd never seen the inside of a fridge before. I knew he was only doing it out of habit- he never took anything out of the fridge the first time he opened it- but it was still amusing.

"We already ate," I said when he'd closed the door and turned to look at me again. "You can nuke leftovers or I can make you something; up to you."

He made a rather pathetic noise after a moment, obviously resigning himself to fate. "Leftovers means less work for everyone."

Smiling, I shook my head as he busied himself making a quick dinner. It grew curiously quiet as he moved and I found myself thinking that with all the upstart involving Relena and Mara, Quatre and Trowa, and just about everyone else… I'd really come to miss silence. Normally I would be the last person in the known universe to admit to that but somehow I think I'd grown used to peace. I'd grown used to not _having_ to talk just to have noise because the silence wasn't as terrifying anymore. Sometime in the past three years, silence had stopped belonging to misery and death and had become something I could relish.

I could feel my eyelids drooping again as I waited; the microwave was humming so contentedly and everything just seemed so… serene. It was hard to distinguish the words of the newscaster from the buzz of the television and I sleepily thought that maybe it was time to get a better screen. Heero was leaning tiredly against the counter, watching me intently. I could tell that he was listening to the television much better than I was; his head was turned just so and there was that tiny expression of confusion wrinkling his forehead.

"What?" I asked in a last-ditch effort to maintain consciousness.

"Shh." He pushed away from the counter with his hips, stalking into the other room. Surprised at his sudden change, I followed slowly after him.

"What is it?" I asked again, stopping beside him behind the couch.

He didn't respond at first, just stared stiffly at the television. The bluish light flickered over his face; his lips were pressed tightly together and his eyes were narrowed in a very nasty, intense glare. His hands were leaving imprints in the back of the couch from where he clenched it a little too tightly. Mara sleepily looked up at both of us before falling back asleep with her mouth gaping open.

"They haven't gotten in, have they?" he asked tensely.

I tore my gaze away from him, turning it to the news broadcast that was still playing. They were repeating the same information they'd been giving us for a few days now; they'd discovered the labs where the gundams had been created. It was considered fantastic historical news and everyone was treating it as delicately and reverently as if they'd discovered some sort of ancient cultural site. Quatre had already checked, though, and had found nothing… dangerous. Nothing that would bring any of us harm if it was found.

"I don't think they have," I replied after a moment. "The last I heard was that they found they needed a very specific, complex code to get inside." I tried to shake it off as if it were nothing, but it was obviously bothering Heero quite a bit. "You know that's not true though. The entry codes were pretty simple as far as that sort of thing goes. They're obviously on the wrong track."

"They're not," he said quietly, eyes still glued to the screen. "They're using the original lab, the one all five of them used at the same time, as a template." There was no need for me to ask to whom he was referring; there was no "them" that inspired such a cold tone as the doctors.

"Was that one more complex?"

"It was a DNA code," he said simply. "Of course it was."

"DNA," I echoed, trying to think why that concept sounded so familiar. "I think they were saying something about that earlier this week." I dredged up as much as I could remember from the recent news. "Someone… Well, the reporters are saying that a few of the people working to get inside think that the labs had a lot to do with DNA. Weird, since I figured it would have been mostly mechanical stuff- you know, parts or designs for the gundams or-"

"Duo, shut up," he cut me off. "I'm trying to hear what they are saying."

I gave him an offended look that was completely lost on him before turning to view the screen again. The news broadcaster was outside of a dull looking silvery building that seemed to be either very dirty or very tarnished. There was a small crowd but I could imagine it was only small because of the cramped alley that appeared to be the only entrance to where the reporter stood. Police had sectioned off the area behind the reporter, a small cement courtyard that bridged the gap between the alley and a flat wall. There wasn't a door in sight; in fact, the only thing that marred the wall was a small box that looked as though it might contain fuses or outlet plugs.

"-since they discovered the means of entrance. After nearly a week of dedicated work, one of the research teams claims to have produced the correct code to enter the laboratory. Will we finally be able to learn what brought about the creations of our infamous saviors, the Gundams? Here with me now is Doctor Kerith Lee, head of the Rockford team. Doctor, I'm told it was your team that discovered the code?"

The screen flickered and a familiar face appeared on the screen. I felt my nose wrinkle in distaste. Lee was one of the people I liked least in this world; for the past few years he'd been heavily into investigating the creation of the gundams in the name of 'recording history.' Both Heero and I knew that he wanted to get his grimy paws on a clear way to recreate the gundams and there had been at least one occasion where he'd come dangerously close. It looked as though we might have to intervene this time…

"Thank you, Karen. Yes, we have. With the aid of an outside source, we've managed to create a code that is similar enough that we think it will be able to open the lab for investigation."

"Is there a reason you haven't tried it yet?"

Lee made a face that suggested he'd just sucked on a lemon. "Well, Karen, that's difficult to say. We're not entirely sure what lies in store for us behind that door. Quite honestly we want to be sure no one is going to get hurt before we proceed. If you recall, the first attempt at entering the laboratory was… less than successful."

At that, I laughed. Heero gave me a sharp look and I only shrugged, still smiling. "They tried to cut in through the wall and it set off explosives underneath them… They stopped." Raising an eyebrow, Heero turned back to the television.

"-creators of the gundams were very, very careful not to let their research fall into the wrong hands but hopefully tomorrow morning we may get a small window into their world. But as touchy as Operation Meteor was, I think we're just going to have to take it slow and be very careful what we do from here out."

"Well thank you, Doctor Lee. And now-"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I straightened from where I'd leaned on the back of the couch. "It's ridiculous. Lee thinks he's going to get his hands on a way to recreate the gundams but a million to one says that the docs destroyed the evidence as soon as they separated and launched Operation Meteor."

Meteor… Meteor… My brain was playing the word over and over again in my mind. Everything had been about Operation Meteor. My life should have been forfeit to that plan and instead I'd been handed… _everything_ and told to do what I thought was right. I'd been handed a chance at changing the world however I thought it should be changed. The doctors had quit the real Operation Meteor and sent us down alone. It wasn't until that whole Mariemaia fiasco that the Meteor project was reborn; until someone wanted Meteor…

_They want Meteor_.

My eyes snapped to the phone base when I recalled the message. Heero was still listening intently to the news broadcast so he ignored me when I shoved away from the couch and walked over. The little, glowing number two shimmered from the display. One of them was Quatre and one of them… One of them I had assumed was a wrong number and I'd forgotten it. But what if it wasn't? With all this talk of the labs and the doctors… what if it was important?

"Heero…?"

"What," he asked absently, eyes still glued to the television.

"I think someone called for you. They left a weird message."

He spared me a quick glance before settling his gaze back on the report. "What did they say?"

"I still have the message." I thought back to the message and how I'd been interrupted by the call from the doctor's office. That voice had sounded so… familiar. "I think it was important. I think it's someone we know."

He finally turned his attention to me, eyebrow quirked curiously. "You _think_?"

Behind me I heard Heero reach for the remote to turn down the volume. I could feel that tiny rush of adrenaline, the sort that comes when you know something is happening but you can't quite tell what. I didn't respond to him as I pressed the play button and the answering machine whirred to life. It clicked and stated the date and time of the call in a monotone voice before it played the message.

"They want meteor. Call me."

The machine clicked and whirred again before I pressed the stop button and turned my attention to Heero. He was staring silently at the machine as if it had spoken in a completely different language, eyes narrowed and lips tight. He was frozen to the spot and I could practically see the gears turning in his brain as he processed the message. Hearing it a second time, in the context of this particular situation… even _I_ had recognized the voice.

It was Milliardo.

After the war he'd been slightly involved in the politics of creating a new, peaceful world. He hadn't disappeared off the map until after the Mariemaia incident. We'd looked for him directly after the battle but Noin had taken him and disappeared. No one heard from her for nearly three months and when we did she claimed Millardo was 'gone.' Just gone. She wouldn't say whether or not he was alive or dead and claimed to have no knowledge of anything pertaining to him.

No one believed her but after having not seen hide or hair of him in all this time… I admit that even I had begun to think maybe he really had died and Noin hadn't wanted to let us know. This though- clearly he was alive and well and thought we knew how to contact him.

And you know… Heero didn't look a bit surprised.

In fact, he was beginning to look a little bit angry.

I took a hesitant step in his direction, curious and very concerned at the look of distaste spreading across his features. "Heero…?" I questioned quietly.

"Shit." Without saying anything more, he shoved himself forcefully away from the couch and disappeared into the kitchen.

Alarmed and confused, I switched off the television and followed quickly after him. "What's up?" I asked, watching him toss a quick glance around the room. "Heero? Was that Milliardo? What's going on?"

But he ignored me.

As I watched, bewildered, he roughly yanked open our junk drawer and pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil. What was going on? Heero hadn't acted so strangely in ages. He whirled around to the table and scribbled on the notepad before neatly arranging it. Before I could ask what he was doing now he'd disappeared into the hall again, leaving me standing in the kitchen. Confused and getting a little scared, I leaned over and read what he'd written on the notepad:

_Duo- You won't get this until you get home tomorrow morning but as soon as you do I want you to meet at Bronner's Bakery. You know which one. Take this note with you and hurry. See you soon, love. –H _

Brow wrinkling, I turned to ask Heero again what was going on only to find him already standing in the doorway. I pushed down the flare of anger that rose when I saw him outfitting himself with his favorite gun. Whatever was happening, he was taking it a little too seriously.

"Heero-!"

"Duo!" He cut me off sharply, giving me a hard look and just like that I knew.

The person staring back at me from behind Heero's beautiful eyes was not my lover. That was not the Heero I'd known and loved for the last four years.

No… the person standing before me was nothing more than a stone-cold assassin; he was the war hardened soldier I'd met when I was fifteen… and for a split second I hated him. Bitterly. I hated that look. I hated that person. I hated whatever had caused that callous, unfeeling part of him to reappear.

But it took only seconds for the solider within me to surface in response and the feeling subsided, forced to the back corner of my mind as I realized that whatever was going on was dangerous. Whatever was happening was not just random or strange; it was a matter of life or death. There was no other excuse.

"I just want to know why you're freaking out and why Milliardo is leaving cryptic messages on our machine," I said quietly, staring at him as calmly as I could force myself to be. "You know I hate being in the dark."

For an instant I could see the debate whirling in his eyes but they hardened again as he spoke. "For right now I need you to trust me and just do what I say. Can you do that?"

Part of me wanted to tell him no.

I wanted to know what was going on.

I wanted to ask why.

But I didn't.

A long time ago, Sister Helen used to tell me that sometimes it was better to obey first and ask questions later. "What if," she'd always said, "you were standing in the middle of the road and I told you to move? In the time it would take you to ask 'why,' the bus that was coming might already have hit you."

Now I got the feeling that this was a road and Heero was telling me to move.

Just because I couldn't see the bus, didn't mean it wasn't coming.

So could I trust him without knowing why?

"Yes," I responded in a whisper. Because as much as I wanted to say no, I knew that sometimes having blind faith in someone was the only way to stay alive; and alive seemed like a good idea right then.

He took a deep, calming breath and nodded. "I have to go somewhere," he told me quite seriously. My skin prickled at the strange note in his voice- it was far too close to fear. "I'll be back in about an hour. Pack a bag for yourself and one for Mara." He paused as he turned to head for the front door. "And… pack lightly."

"What about Artemis?" I hated the way my voice sounded so hollow in my ears.

"We can't take her," he said almost instantly, as though he'd expected the question. "We don't have time."

"Time?" I echoed exasperatedly. "How long are we going to be gone?"

He shook his head and I could tell he was only trying to make up something to placate me. "Just ask a neighbor to watch her for a few days, okay?"

"Days…?" Days? _Days_? Where exactly were we going to go on an hour's notice for a few days? "You've got a lot of explaining to do the second you have a chance."

For a second I thought he was going to say something else but he merely nodded and disappeared down the hallway. I glanced uncertainly to the note on the table before following suit. I watched him slipping into his shoes, silently wondering if this was really all right. It had been so long since anything dangerous had happened… I'd thought it was all behind us. I'd thought we were done. Now I felt like I'd just been dropped right into the middle of something horrible and I couldn't even see what it was.

"I won't be long," he said quietly, startling me. His eyes flickered briefly over my form before something seemed to give and he smiled regretfully. "I promise I'll explain as soon as I can. Just be ready to go when I get back, all right?"

If there hadn't already been a lump of cold fear in my gut that certainly would have put one there. Heero never did that; he never, in any way, assured people things were going to be okay. _He knew better_. Even if he thought he was completely certain of the outcome he would rather silently let it happen than offer a reassurance that could be proven wrong or lead someone to think they were all right when they were not.

Words could often mean the difference between life and death.

I cast my gaze to the ground, refusing to answer him. The tension was thick between us as he waited silently for my response but it didn't take him long to see that he wouldn't get one. Ever-so-carefully he leaned forward and grabbed my arm with one hand, pulling me just close enough to kiss my cheek, and then he was gone. The door clicked hollowly behind him.

* * *

/**End Chapter Eighteen, Inheritance**/

* * *


	20. Chapter Nineteen

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing A/C and its plot, characters, and settings are NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen

* * *

**

I had never so solemnly packed a bag as I did after Heero had shut that door. I knew that I wasn't going to be packing more than one. Whatever this was, whatever was happening, there was not going to be room for more than one bag and it had to be a small bag, at that. Nothing worth running from ever allowed for more than that. A change of clothes for all of us, a small thermal blanket, a couple of toothbrushes, hair ties, and a few other things I thought we might need.

Only a few minutes later I found myself sitting desolately on the edge of our bed with my face in my hands. I didn't want to believe this was happening. When the war ended we were supposed to be safe. There shouldn't be good people getting killed or secrets being kept anymore. There shouldn't be this sinking feeling in my gut at the thought of having to face another battle.

Blanching at the thought of fighting, I dropped my hands away from my face, blinking a few times to clear my vision. If I was going to be fighting then I was going to have to follow Heero's example; I was going to need a gun. My mind drifted to the jet black handgun in my top drawer. It was the .9mm I'd carried through most of the first war and it had gotten me through a lot of rough spots.

With a sigh I got to my feet and padded silently to the drawer. It opened with a soft protest and for a second the contents just seemed so… normal. Boxers. Socks. Rumpled nightshirt- can't remember the last time I wore one. A part of me imagined that if I moved that shirt I would find the bottom of the drawer. There would be a plain wooden bottom that smelled faintly of pine or oak or whatever the dresser was made of and that would be all. But when I pushed aside the garment I was greeted with a flash of shiny black metal wrapped in leather so faded it had begun to look grey.

I pulled the gun and the holster from the drawer and shut it with my eyes closed. The weight was familiar, if heavy. It had been so long… Heero cleaned the guns he had kept nearly every week after he had taken them to the range for practice. I'd gone with him a few times, just to keep him company, but it always made me a little heartsick to hear all the gunshots, to feel the kick of a weapon in my hands again.

I hated that feeling so god damned much.

With an unbearably heavy heart, I strapped on the shoulder holster for my most trusted gun; I'd never thought I would have to wear it for this sort of thing again. I hadn't thought there would even be the potential to hurt someone ever again. Yet there I was, crouching in front of the ammunition chest in the back of our closet and pulling out rounds for the gun I'd seen Heero donning and the one resting uncomfortably against my side. My stomach turned at the thought of using it against a human.

I hadn't used to feel so sick when I thought of these things. I remember the times when I could kill a hundred people in a mobile suit fight, slicing them cleanly in half with the green arc of my gundam's scythe. I could shoot down anyone that got in my way while I was trying to escape and I wouldn't think twice about it. I wouldn't think about having to do it again because I _knew_ that I would have to do it again. There was always that lingering 'you're not done yet' feeling hanging over my head, choking up whatever conscience I might have had.

But now? When the war ended, the nightmares began. The guilt set in with so much force that I'd lose myself if I thought about it for too long. I could see faces of people I'd killed. I could hear the voices of people over the communication lines, screaming or pleading when they saw Deathscythe appear. My gundam usually meant death to anyone who laid eyes upon it. I'm told that even Deathscythe cried when I killed people and I'm more than willing to believe that.

I'd had enough of killing.

I'd had enough death.

I just wanted to live peacefully for once. I wanted a normal life. I wanted a life where I could go to work and come home and make dinner and go to sleep and no one died. I wanted to be able to call my friends without worrying if they were in trouble. I wanted to be kept in the light about anything that was going on in my life.

But just because I wanted all of those things didn't mean I deserved them.

The past few years had been spent in amiable silence. They had been so quiet, so perfectly easy to live and try to forget the past. If I could have lived like that for just a little longer, just a few more years, perhaps I could have forgotten the war. Perhaps I could have forgotten all of the horrible things I'd seen and done.

But not now. Not today.

Today I was going to put on my gun in its old black holster and finish packing bullets into a duffel bag. Today I was going to go into the kitchen and add food and bottled water to that same duffel bag. Today I was going to call the neighbor to watch the dog for a week because today I was going to trust my completely insane lover-turned-assassin to take me and his child somewhere safer because today all of our lives were apparently in danger.

And to think; yesterday I'd considered my life to be relatively normal.

Roughly grabbing the duffel bag as soon as I'd finished stuffing the bullet cases inside, I slung it over my shoulder and headed for the kitchen to make good on my plans. Heero would be back in another fifteen or twenty minutes and I knew he would want to leave as soon as he set foot inside the door. Mara was still asleep on the couch when I grabbed the phone from the couch arm on my way past.

What was Heero thinking, I mused in irritation as I set the bag on the table and turned to the refrigerator. What on earth were we going to do with a _child_ on a mission? Children weren't useful. They weren't something we could protect. We'd never protected a child in our lives, what made him think we could start now? What on earth would we do with her if it came to a gunfight? She couldn't run on her own and as cold as it sounds, we probably wouldn't be able to run with her; she would slow us down too much. We would get caught.

It's not like we could just leave her, either. Someone had killed her mother and that put her at too much risk to be leaving her with anyone unsuspecting. She was just a little kid but if anyone knew how tough life could be for kids, I think it was me and Heero. We'd been to Hell and back a few times as children and right then I just hoped that we could find a way to save Mara the trip.

I shoved the apples Heero had brought home into the duffel bag along with a stick of summer sausage, a tin of nuts, and two packages of beef jerky I found in the cupboard. We didn't have a whole lot of food that could be taken with us that either didn't need to be cold or wouldn't get broken in travel. I did find some fruit snacks that Heero must have bought the last time he was at the grocery store and added those to the stash before I got out the jar of peanut butter and the bag of bread.

I snatched the phone from where I'd set it down a few minutes ago and dialed the number for the lady next door. Mrs. Wels was about eighty (million) years old and she was sharp as the broad side of a barn, but she dearly loved our dog. Ever since she'd moved in with her assistant, Allison, they'd been the only ones we could call to dogsit- Artemis hated most strangers but she tolerated the two of them. I held the phone to my ear with my shoulder as I began to make sandwiches and waited.

"Mrs. Wels?" I asked as soon as she answered the phone. "This is Duo; from next door?"

"Ah, Duo," she said kindly after a moment. "How are you?"

"I'm good Mrs. Wels," I responded, relieved that she remembered who I was. She was a little senile on her better days; she would sometimes forget you were talking to her if you didn't say her name every time you addressed her. "How are you?"

I winced as soon as I asked the question because she immediately launched into an explanation of her day. Mrs. Wels probably got lonely a lot and I think she'd come to really love the sound of her own voice. "Did you know Allison went out with her friends today? What a sweet girl she is. She set me up on this couch when she left and said I could watch television all day – she never lets me watch television all day – and she made my favorite sandwiches. That maple turkey, that's some really great turkey, you know. It's-"

"Actually, Mrs. Wels," I interrupted, "I have a favor to ask you and Allison. Heero and I are going out of town for a week or so and we need someone to watch Artemis. I can leave her stuff where we always do so you'd just have to make sure she had food and water and was let outside a few times a day."

"Oh, Artemis," she said as though she'd had a revelation. "That's one sweet dog you have there, you know. She's so very calm and I've never seen anything so white-"

"Yes, I know Mrs. Wels. Can you and Allison watch Artemis for a week?" I asked tiredly, smushing together the pieces of bread when I'd finished peanut-buttering them. I glanced worriedly at the clock; Heero was going to be back soon.

"Oh yes, she's quite beautiful," she replied as if she thought I'd asked. "Any time you need someone to watch her you just let me know sweetie. She's my favorite, you know."

"Yes, I know Mrs. Wels. I need someone to watch her this week," I said patiently, stuffing the sandwiches into their own little plastic baggies and placing them into the duffel bag with the rest of the food. She would latch onto the idea if I repeated it enough.

"I can do that for you, Duo. She is my favorite, after all," she informed me very seriously, as though she hadn't just done so a few seconds earlier.

"I know, Mrs. Wels." I zipped the bag and laid a hand on top, using the other to switch the phone to my other ear. "Do you still have a key or do you want me to bring Artemis over there for you?"

"Oh, Artemis," she said again and I could practically hear her smiling. "What a nice dog. You just leave her to me for a bit and I'll take good care of her."

"Do you have a key to my house?" I repeated, hoping this conversation would end mercifully soon.

"I have one of those, I do. You gave it to me a while ago and asked me to-" she paused and I could hear a voice in the background asking who was on the phone and how she'd gotten hold of it. "I have to go, sweetie. Allison is here right now and I think she wants the phone. Goodbye!"

The line went dead and I groaned, rolling my eyes back into my head. I was just about to call her back when the phone rang, vibrating my hand and startling me into nearly dropping it. I clicked the button as soon as I fumbled the phone upright and Allison's bright, if exasperated voice answered me.

"Mr. Maxwell? Did you want us to watch Artemis?" she asked sweetly.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble to watch both of them," I said gratefully, smiling in response to her tone as I moved into the front room. "We're going to be gone for about a week; I really am sorry to leave on such short notice."

"Not a problem. Artemis is a sweetie and Mrs. Wels really loves her." She paused thoughtfully and then added: "Can you just leave a key under the mat?"

"Sure thing. Thank you so much. I've gotta let you go because we're getting ready to head out the door." We said our polite goodbyes and I hung up the phone, still smiling for no reason as I heard the car pulling into the driveway.

In the next instant all comfort in the world slipped away as Artemis sprang to her feet, fur bristling and lips curling back from her teeth as she moved silently toward the door.

A cold lump of fear settled in my gut; I knew that stance. Whoever had pulled up… wasn't Heero. They couldn't be. She _never_ did that to Heero. Never. He'd hand picked her from a litter at four weeks old and had bottle fed her himself- she adored him over every other living being on the entire planet. She definitely didn't recognize whoever was here. Either Heero was late or… something had gone wrong.

"Shit," I breathed, hand moving easily to my gun. It practically fell into my hand and I found my back placed defensively to the wall in the blink of an eye.

What was I going to do about Mara?

I was torn for an instant between staying where I was and moving into the kitchen- the wall that edged the front hall would provide much better cover. However I hesitated for _only_ an instant before falling back and dipping around the corner. I would be no use to Mara if I got myself killed and I had no idea what she would do if I woke her up now. If she made a noise we could both be dead before we'd realized it.

I took a deep breath when I heard the car door slam, closing my eyes and laying my head back against the wall. I couldn't see the door but I would know when it opened; the handle was still loose from when I'd changed the lock on Heero not too long ago.

The wait was agonizing. The clock on the wall ticked a million times slower than my racing heart and I could hear Artemis still standing stiffly in the front hall, claws clicking against the hardwood in front of the door. I was holding my breath but I couldn't seem to let it out- like breathing would give me away before they'd gotten into the house. The rattle of the door handle was deafening in the silence and as I heard the handle turn, I opened my eyes. My hands tightened reflexively on the grip of my gun.

This was it.

* * *

/**End Chapter Nineteen, Inheritance**/

* * *


	21. Chapter Twenty

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the "R" rating. Please see my profile for details.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty

* * *

**

The front door swung open with a high pitched squeak that was painful in the near silence. My breath caught in my throat as I waited for Artemis to make some sort of attack but to the best of my knowledge she didn't move at all. I heard two tentative footsteps and I steeled myself to round the corner- four steps would put whoever it was just close enough for me to shoot.

"Duo?"

I started at the sound of my name and nearly fell around the corner, acutely aware of how tight my grip on my gun had been as my fingers loosened. "Heero? What the hell- You scared the shit out of me!"

He eyed the gun with a raised eyebrow. "I told you I'd be back in an hour…"

Artemis stood beside him, tail wagging in a lazy arc as she looked between us like nothing had happened. "Yeah, but Artemis…" I trailed off, confused. She'd been so aggressive a moment before, like she hadn't known it was Heero. Why had she…?

"Are you ready?" Heero said, patience clearly wearing thin. He moved past me and tossed a quick glance into the kitchen and then to Mara. "Good."

"Heero," I began, slipping my gun nervously back into its holster. My hands were shaking from the rush of adrenaline that was no longer needed.

But he cut me off with a shake of his head before I could say anything more. Grabbing the duffle bag from the kitchen floor, he began to head for the front door. "Grab the kid and let's go."

Scowling at his turned back, I grabbed Artemis by the collar. "I'm going to put her outside."

Judging by the way he looked at me just then, I think for a second he thought I'd meant Mara. Realization dawned on him when he fully turned and saw my white-knuckled grip on Artemis' collar. "Leave her."

"If you think someone's going to come to our house, wouldn't it be better to have her _out_ of it?" I said hotly. If someone came inside our house, someone that wasn't Heero or I or brought in by one of us, I had no doubts that she would do her goddamned best to savage them beyond repair. But Artemis wouldn't be a match for anyone with a gun. "She could get hurt."

He clenched his jaw, thoughts obviously running the same track as mine before he rolled his eyes. "Fine. Hurry."

Giving him a bit of a nasty look, I walked her quickly to the back door. She would have followed me if I'd just called her but my hands were shaking and I needed something to hold. I needed control of something so badly at that point that it didn't matter whether it was something as huge as my life or as stupid as which direction the dog went. The sliding glass door that led to our backyard was cold with the night chill but it wasn't cold enough to be freezing yet and slid open with ease.

Artemis, normally the first wriggling her way out the door to romp in the backyard, tucked her tail and tried to shy away from the outside, looking at me like she thought I was going to take her our back to beat her. I suppose she couldn't understand why I had her by the collar, since we almost never had to grab it. I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax and smile for her, though it didn't seem to help at all.

"It's okay," I soothed, trying to ignore the sensation that everything was completely not okay. For the moment, nothing bad had happened and it was still 'okay'. Hopefully it would stay that way. "Come on, I'll show you."

I stepped outside into the night air and felt that sudden shortness of breath as the cold sharply invaded my lungs. I had released Artemis' collar and for a second I thought she was going to try and run back to where Heero was but she remained, eyeing me suspiciously. Patting my thighs and hoping she would follow, I beckoned her out onto the back deck. "Come on girl, please. We really have to go," I cajoled sweetly.

Her tail curled up and she darted outside straight into me, mouth open and tongue lolling. I scratched her furiously behind their ears, fighting off the way my eyes stung with tears. I didn't want to leave her here. She'd been with us for so long that it felt like she was really family. She was really one of those 'people' I trusted and loved and I know she trusted and loved us and here we were, leaving her out in the cold. Literally.

"Be good, okay? I don't know when we'll be back but Mrs. Wels and her friend will come take care of you for a bit." I kissed the top of her head as she sobered at my tone.

I gave her one last pat on the head, a simple ruffle of her floppy ears, then slipped inside and closed the door behind me. I forced myself to ignore the way she stood at the lip of the door, forced myself to ignore the whining scratching against the glass. I turned my back. I walked away. I had a feeling I was going to be walking, or more likely _running_ away from a lot for a while, just like I was getting ready to do with Heero and Mara. Nothing that required running from was ever a short ordeal.

When I reached the front of the house, Heero was already gone. He'd taken the duffle bag and moved Mara outside; I could hear the car engine running. Odd, I thought to myself as I opened the front door and turned off the last of the interior lights. The engine was running a lot more smoothly than Heero's car but it didn't sound a thing like mine.

Which might have been, I discovered a moment later, because it was not either of our cars that idled in our driveway.

"You _rented_ a car?" I asked incredulously of Heero, who was closing the trunk. "Where is _your_ car? Why did you-"

"Just get in, Duo," he said has he moved around the side of the car and opened the driver side door. He was obviously tiring of me asking questions. "We can talk about this later."

My lip curled a little in resentment of his words but I moved to the passenger side and climbed inside, despite my logical, sane reservations about the idea of joining Heero in the car. He'd obviously lost his mind. At that point all I could think of was that he'd finally snapped. The stress of… _whatever_ was finally getting to him and he'd just snapped under the pressure. He was seeing conspiracies and trying to drag everyone around him into this delusion of insecurity.

And worse… it was working.

I was scared.

"Where are we going?" I whispered around the lump of unease that had long since settled in my gut.

"The airport," he said grimly, tossing the car into reverse and backing out of the short driveway.

I didn't figure I would be getting more of an explanation than that so I let it drop. I settled into my chair, ready for a decently long drive, but he shut off the engine as soon as we'd rounded the corner. The lights followed half a second later. Confused, I sat up straight and looked behind us, to our house, but there was nothing amiss.

"Heero," I said slowly, "I feel the need to point out that this is not the airport."

"I'm just watching," he said distractedly, shifting in his seat so he could clearly see our house. The motion sensing light for the driveway was still brightly lit but everything else was dark and silent. "I just… nevermind." He threw a glance to Mara in the backseat but she was sleeping peacefully in her little car seat.

I sighed and turned my attention to the house. A few minutes passed and the light from the garage lamp faded, winking out and washing everything in darkness. The neighbors almost never turned their porch-lights on and the only light was from the dimly flickering street lamp down the road. I could faintly hear Artemis barking in the backyard, begging to be let back into the house where she probably thought we still were. A few houses down another dog answered her calls, howling at the top of his lungs. It was probably that little viszla, Kaden, I thought tiredly as I relaxed into the seat, waiting for Heero to see whatever the hell it was he was so stoically trying to see.

"What's-"

"Roll down your window."

"What? Are you crazy? It's freezing outside!" I hissed, motioning to Mara with a vague gesture. "If we're trying to be sneaky, waking up a sleeping child is really not the way to go about it."

"Then just fucking crack it a little," he said dangerously, not even bothering to look at me. His eyes were glued to our silent, dark house.

"Screw you," I told him viciously, sure to keep my voice as quiet as possible despite that I felt like yelling. I _hated_ being in the dark; literally and figuratively. "I can't anyway unless you turn the car on first- they're automatic."

He made an exasperated noise in the back of his throat and leaned back enough to turn the key. The fan whirred to life and the interior clock lit up but the engine didn't start. I pressed my finger to the window button and it slid down an inch or two with a mechanical hiss. As soon as it had, Heero flicked the key again and we were enveloped in silence once more. Cold air began slowly seeping in through the newly created opening and I hunkered down into my seat just a little more.

"Happy?" I muttered, not caring if he thought I was sulking. I was.

"No."

"You never are…" I replied in a flat tone.

What the hell was his problem? Dragging me out in the middle of the night with Mara in a rental car to god knows where and he wouldn't even take three fucking seconds to explain what was happening. I mean… I guess I could understand the feeling, the sense that there was something going on and there not being enough time to properly explain. Sometimes it was better to leave someone completely in the dark than to only give them a part of the information so they could screw everything over royally. But by then I would have liked to of thought I wasn't one of those people, at least in Heero's eyes.

"Heero-"

"Shut up. Listen."

I wanted to say more but I wisely closed my mouth and sank down in the seat, closing my eyes so that my hearing would be a little more focused. He was crazy. Insane. He'd completely lost it. There was _nothing_ to hear and every second we sat in eerie, chilled silence was a second I spent getting a deeper feeling of unease.

But it was just as I was about to tell him we should just go if we were going to go that I heard it. Faint at first, it was the rumbling of another car. I'd heard a couple pass but none like this one; this one had the undercurrent whine of a machine that was running more than just an engine.

Slowly I sat and opened my eyes, peeking out the window in a way that wouldn't block Heero's line of sight. There was a dark colored car coming down the far street, the one where the highway exit was. As I stared, mouth open a little bit in shock, it pulled into our driveway and four men exited the car. Even down the street where we were I could see that they were packing heat in no small way. They approached our front door and the one in the lead almost deftly picked the lock; they were inside our house within a matter of seconds.

"How did you know they were going to come tonight?" I whispered, my breath choked with cold fear as I settled back in my seat.

"I didn't," he said as he started the engine, though the lights remained off, leaving us shrouded in darkness.

"Oh. So you just felt like scaring the shit out of me and uprooting our existence by going on the run on the off chance that someone _might_ show up? I mean, granted it worked, but Heero, really…"

"I didn't know they would be here _tonight_," he clarified, snapping at me. "I knew they would come in the evening because no one would think it unusual for us to have houseguests in the evening. They'd be least likely to be caught."

"So why didn't we just high-tail it out of there an hour ago?" I asked as he turned down a side street. We were heading for the highway. No one used this street if they weren't going to the highway.

"Time," he said simply. "Even though we've seen where they are now and they don't know where we are, we're still only half a step ahead of them."

"And you're hoping we can get two steps ahead," I said flatly. Ever the soldier, he was.

"Yes."

"Bronner's is Earth based. Does that mean we're going… you know, up?" I pointed to the roof of the car but Heero knew where I meant; the colonies.

"We're meeting Wu Fei on one of the L1 colonies."

"Were you guys planning this all along?" An idea dawned on me then as a few things began to connect. "Is this about those labs?"

"Yes," he said simply after a moment. "There's something… dangerous there," he continued, much to my surprise. "It wasn't supposed to be uncovered. There are only seven people who have ever had the means to enter the original lab," he said grimly. "One of them is dead and one of them is me. Now the entire world is about to have access to something that not even the remaining five should be able to touch."

"And you're not going to tell me what that is." It wasn't a question. I knew the answer before he said a word.

"Not if I don't have to. I hadn't wanted it to get this far and I'm going to drop you and Mara with Wu Fei and take care of this."

Alarms rang in my head and I gave him an incredulous look. "I would ask if you've gone completely insane but I already know the answer," I told him in disbelief. "Let me help you! Let _someone_ help you!"

"You've got to watch Mara," he said almost sharply. "Right now that is something I don't want anyone else doing You're the only one I trust to keep her safe."

I knew they were just pretty words. I knew that any of the other ex-pilots could have protected Mara as well as if not better than I could at the moment. I knew that, had he a choice, he would probably leave me out of whatever this was entirely because in his own way I knew he wanted to protect me as well. So I let it drop. I surrendered to him quietly, sinking into my seat as we merged onto the highway and thinking to myself that if I could just wait a little while, this whole thing would blow over and we could get back to life soon.

But it was so, so far from being over.

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/**End Chapter Twenty, Inheritance**/

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	22. Chapter Twenty One

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing A/C and its plot, characters, and settings are NOT MINE

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**Chapter Twenty One

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**

I wanted to nap in the car on the way to the airport but I couldn't force myself to relax. I wanted to sleep at least a little bit on the plane but I couldn't seem to close my eyes for more than a matter of seconds before the unsettling feeling of being on the run again crept through my body and sent adrenaline coursing through my veins. Heero didn't seem about to sleep either; as soon as he was able he had his laptop out, fingers flying over the keys. It wasn't the same laptop as he'd had during the war. This one was smaller and lighter, something he'd made himself half a year ago. Mara slept between us, blanket tucked to her chin and thumb in her mouth and I couldn't lean close enough to Heero to see what he was doing unless I wanted to disturb her.

So I relaxed. I took a few deep breaths and settled down into my little chair with Mara snuggled up to my side, my hand stroking absently over her hair… and I relaxed.

After a while everything in my head stopped running in circles and I calmed down enough to do something I hadn't done in years. I pushed innocence to the back of my mind and pulled the "god of death" in me forward. I put away things like compassion and fear and sanity, replacing them with the clear, collected determination to remain alive no matter what. I allowed myself to forget that a life outside of fight or flight existed. I allowed my past to become my present so that I could become a solider once more.

It was both easier and harder to do the second time. Easier because I knew the patterns already- I knew the way to simplify everything down to a single goal, a single task. I knew how to organize what I knew and use everything I learned to adapt my course of actions. I knew what things could be taken and what should be left behind; what things were important enough to worry over now and what things would be important later. I knew who and what mattered and how to survive like no other human would be able.

But it was harder because I desperately didn't want to have to do it.

I didn't want to be a soldier again. I didn't want to run. I didn't want to hide. I didn't want to fight and I didn't want to kill. I _wanted_ a normal life. Like a man lost in the desert craves water, I craved the simple, easy life I'd been living the past three years. But by the time the aerospace shuttle landed against the side of the little L1 colony and we set foot in the landing dock it was too late. There was no going back now.

"It's not far from here," Heero told me quietly as he hefted the lone bag we'd brought onto his shoulder from the baggage claim circle. "But we _are_ going to have to walk. I don't want anyone remembering us if they haven't got to."

I shifted the still dozing Mara in my arms so that her head lolled more comfortably against my shoulder. "You can stop treating me like I'm the child, Yuy," I said, forcing myself to use his last name. It certainly got his attention but he didn't comment. Instead he turned away and began walking briskly toward the exit.

It was nighttime on the colony still, even though we'd just been through an entire night of our own time. The streets were light with aging yellowed street lamps and I wondered whether they'd ever been replaced since the colonies had first been placed in space. Probably not. There were only a couple of cars on the streets and once we were away from the airport I didn't see anyone at all walking the metallic sidewalks. Above us on the curve of the colony ceiling, the pinpricks of machinery lights flickered in a cruel imitation of the beautiful earth starscape.

The worst part was that I know I would have thought it was a beautiful place, back before I'd ever been to Earth. I would have thought this was an amazing night. Everything was peaceful- I didn't hear sirens, none of the machines were giving off that coarse smelling fog like they did when they were cleaning themselves… It was nice; or it would have been if I hadn't seen so, so much better in my life.

"Wu Fei said he would meet us there," Heero said quietly after a while. "I don't know if he's already here or not."

I grunted an acknowledgement- that was practically the first bit of information Heero had volunteered. "If he's not?"

"We'll find what we need and leave," he said simply.

"Papers… parts…?" I questioned. "What are we looking for?"

"Papers. Documents."

"Do we need them or do we need them destroyed?" I asked, shifting Mara to my other hip to allow some circulation back into my now free arm. We'd been walking for nearly a mile now.

"Both. We need them and then we need them destroyed." He took a breath and I let him alone for a moment, recognizing that he was debating something. When he finally seemed to come to a decision, he stopped and turned, facing me with a very serious look. "It'll make more sense later- I _promise_ I'll explain. When it is safe to do so." He held up a hand as I made to protest. "I know. You're not a kid, you can help… I know that. That's why I'm trusting you to cooperate and wait until it's time."

"How much further," I said quietly, instead of responding.

His eyes narrowed at the words but he didn't admonish me. "We're here."

'Here' appeared to be a blank wall. It was smooth silver like the rest of the buildings on the colony, probably rooted to the very metal ground beneath it, melded to the structure of the colony's hull. The metal was tarnished and ugly looking, dirty from years and years of never being cleaned. It really didn't look like we were anywhere of importance- at least the lab I'd been at had a visible front door. I gave him a skeptical look which he promptly ignored as he turned to face the wall. I watched silently as he placed his palm against one of the metal tiles and it sank, depressing in the shape of his hand.

Clever, I thought. Very clever indeed. Whatever the lab was hiding, it meant to do it very well.

With a grinding of metal and a groan of protest, a section of the wall sank into the building and slid to the left. The opening was barely large enough to fit one person and it was pitch black inside. Wonderful. I arranged Mara on my hip so that we would fit through and she stirred, blinking sleepily at me. I shushed her and cooed as I slipped inside the darkened passageway, until she put her head back on my shoulder and fell asleep. I breathed a sigh of relief just as Heero joined us and the door slid closed. We were trapped in a blanket of muffling, suffocating blackness.

"Do we get lights?" I asked, a little more scathingly than I'd intended.

Green flickered into existence with a snap as Heero broke a military glow stick over his knee. The light was bright but it didn't extend far, turning the tunnel into a sort of night-vision illusion. I felt like I was looking though goggles. Heero brushed past me, obviously in more of a hurry, and I took a breath or two before following the eerie neon light. We walked for nearly a minute before emerging at the heart of the laboratory.

It was quiet in the lab as well, but not silent like the tunnel had been. The mechanical whir of the generator drifted about the enclosed space. The lab was larger than the one I'd been in but it was just as cluttered with everything under the sun. I felt as though I'd opened a door and stepped into my own dubious past, with just a few alterations. Most of the parts I saw along the walls couldn't have belonged to Deathscythe and the chicken scratch notes scrawled all over the scattered papers didn't match the Professors. He'd always had very neat, concise writing that fit perfectly with his to-the-point nature.

I startled, jerking my hand away from the papers I'd been touching when Mara knocked over a small instrument and sent it clattering across the metal floor. Heero looked sharply but slowly at us, raising one eyebrow in a silent "what the hell are you doing" glare. I gave him an apologetic shrug and grabbed Mara around the waist, carefully lifting her up to sit on my hip.

"Daddy, I wan' ice keem," she said, wrapping her arms around my neck and giving me a sleepy yawn. It was still early morning and she had been moving just as long as we had.

Smiling at her strange request, I adjusted her so I could still walk and use my right arm. "Okay, sweetie. We'll get you some ice cream if you can be really… really… quiiiieet." I exaggerated the whispered last word and she hid a giggle behind her hand before giving me the 'shh' finger. "That's right," I agreed, barely a breath.

Heero finally stopped watching us and returned to sorting through the papers scattered everywhere in the lab. It almost looked as though someone had been throwing things around, trying to find something. Probably the same something that Heero had found, I thought grimly. Whatever it was it was important or dangerous or both or we wouldn't be here looking for it. So what if it was important enough that someone had found it before us? Had Wu Fei already been here and gotten it? Had someone _else_?

I shuffled another stack of paper before I decided I had no idea what the hell I was looking for and stopped. I didn't know why Heero had brought both of us into the lab with him except that it must have seemed safer that way- if we were out of the lab that meant we were out of his sight, which meant we could be in danger. But being in here without being able to help was frustrating, maddening. I felt… useless. I hated feeling useless.

"What are we looking for?" I whispered, barely a breath, knowing he would hear me in the quiet.

"Anything…" he said distractedly, almost like he'd been expecting to say more but had forgotten mid-sentence.

I snorted. "There's a whole lot of anything in this lab, Heero Yuy. _What_ are we _looking_ for?"

"We are _looking_ for evidence of something," he hissed. "If you want to help, keep watch."

Though I could have said a few choice words to him, I kept my mouth shut and settled for listening to the silence. It was still creepy, like walking into someone's home when all the lights were off and you weren't sure there was really no one home. It felt a little like when we'd first gotten Artemis and we would both wake up at night reaching for guns because we'd heard something wandering the house. I felt like this place, so much like the lab I had spent time at, should have been the safest place in the world but somehow it felt like the most dangerous. I began to think that it might have been a good idea to leave word with someone, maybe Quatre or someone, just to make sure that someone other than us knew where we were trying to be. Even in the war we'd known where all of us _should_ be, even if we didn't know how things were going.

It was as I was so dutifully thinking of calling someone to let them know our where-abouts that I heard it- a cell phone ringing.

At first I thought it was my own and I'm sure that's what Heero thought as well. He turned to give me a sharp, angry look only to realize in the same instant as I did that it wasn't me. It wasn't him. It was our ring tone, the ring only our fives phones had, the one Quatre made especially for us. If it wasn't my phone and it wasn't Heero's phone, that meant it could only be one person. Wu Fei. Relief washed over me at the realization and I took two steps before Heero was able to grab a handful of my sleeve and give me a glare that meant death if I took a third.

I shifted Mara in my arms and gave him a 'what's up?' look. He just shook his head and silently motioned for me to get myself and my captive out of there. Inside, I smiled a little bit at his use of the word captive; there was no military hand signal for child, after all. Despite that, the motions chilled me. If Heero didn't think that ring was Wu Fei, then it was someone else and that meant Wu Fei didn't have his phone anymore. It meant Wu Fei probably wasn't a free man anymore, if he was alive at all.

I nodded, retracing the two steps I had just taken while Heero moved forward. The phone was still ringing, the noise emanating from a small, closed off room on the other side of the lab. I wanted to leave but I was frozen, watching him cross the room, watching him stop at the entrance and confusedly signal to me that there was no one there. The ringing stopped and silence stole over the lab once more. Not even the generator hummed in the background.

Spider webs crawled across my skin and the soldier's instinct in me got the better of me. I heard the clack of a gun settling against metal even as I was tightening my grip on Mara and ducking. The first shots rang deafeningly loud just as I rolled us behind an unused gundanium armor plating, wondering whether Heero had managed to take cover in time; I hadn't had the chance to even see his reaction.

I threw a glance to the doorway we'd first come through, trying to judge my chances for success if I just bolted for them. Mara was crying and squirming, terrified at all of the loud noises that were echoing through the lab. There was no way I could fool them into thinking we'd crawled in a different direction. Not with the kid making so much noise. We'd never make it in a straight run, either. I would _have_ to fight back this time, whether I wanted to or not.

I reached around Mara and drew my gun.

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/**End Chapter Twenty One, Inhertiance**/

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Notes:

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If you leave a signed review I will try my best to respond to you via the site's new respond function, but if you leave an unsigned one with no email, I'm afraid you are out of luck.

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	23. Chapter Twenty Two

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing A/C and its plot, characters, and settings are NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Two

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**

I wrapped my hand around Mara's mouth, whispering to her, pleading with her to be silent. She snuffled angrily through her nose, tiny fingers prying at my hand to no avail. Above us I could hear our attackers stamping around, obviously unaware of the crawlspace tunnel beneath them. They were saying things I couldn't hear through the floor, things that sounded like bad news for someone; I just hoped desperately that it was for them and not us.

We'd managed to make it out of the first lab only because Heero had provided a distraction. It had been close; they'd known how pinned we were, how there was nowhere for Mara and I to go. Two of them had already been coming down the stairs, boots clanking against the webbed metal. It was no wonder we hadn't seen them, dressed all in black, hiding on the maintenance balcony. We'd been far too careless. They'd had more than enough time to spot us and watch to make sure we were someone they wanted to shoot.

Heero had managed to land a bullet right across the collarbone of the closest guy, sending him rolling down the rest of the stairs. I'd heard the guy scream as he dropped to his knees and caught a glimpse of him on the floor when I'd made a dash for the door with Mara screaming at the top of her lungs. We'd been shot at but I think they were too busy staying alive against Heero's return fire to pay much attention to us. I don't believe they'd thought we would fight back if they had us cornered well enough. It was obviously no one we'd fought before, then, because we were notorious during the war for doing just that.

The first person that did turn toward us went down with a yelp and a wet noise; a knee shot, the soldier within me had registered. Mara was jostled so much by my run that she'd shut her mouth and buried her face in my shoulder, arms wrapped in a chokehold about my throat. It was all I could do to bolt from the lab and evade the tight but badly planned ambush seated outside the door. It seemed they hadn't expected any of us to make it that far. I'd managed to shoot two of them and the third had surrendered his weapon to me with shaking hands. A tiny thrill had shivered across my skin at that feeling of power; I hadn't felt that way since piloting Deathscythe. It was a thrill I hated to treasure and love, but I did.

Though I did think to ask, the man wouldn't speak, wouldn't tell me who was behind the attacks. I didn't have time to press the issue because the sounds of fighting had died within the lab and I couldn't be sure of the winner until it would be too late. I left the guard there without weapons and disappeared into the city. I was good at disappearing, if nothing else.

We encountered our pursuers twice more, although the first time they didn't see us before we saw them. The second time we were by the same building under which Mara and I now hid and we'd only managed to disappear the second time on sheer, completely insane luck. I'd opened the right door at the right time, saw the creases in the floor that meant there was a crawl space, a maintenance tunnel beneath the building. Now we were squirreled away inside beneath the floor of the old structure, listening to our enemies with bated breath. Waiting for them to leave. Hoping they wouldn't see what I had seen or follow the tunnel too far if they did.

Mara keened through her nose- a very quiet, cranky noise. I shifted her, curling my arms a little more tightly around her. "Shh, I know sweetie," I crooned, gut twisting as I prayed we would not be heard. We had stopped walking so that I could listen. "But you need to be quiet for me, okay? Can you be quiet for daddy?"

There was a moment's pause where she breathed furiously but then she nodded, fingers curling against my hand. I released her slowly and she squirmed out of my grasp, sitting across from me on the floor and giving me a rather sullen look. I could see the tears in her eyes and the way her face screwed up, her lips pressing together like she wanted very badly to scream. But she remained silent, breathing through her nose like a snorting bull and she did not cry or scream as she'd been doing previously. It reminded me so painfully of Relena's stubbornness.

I smiled at her and put one slender finger to my lips before whispering: "Do you still want ice cream?" Though she eyed me suspiciously, she nodded, her own fingers drifting to her mouth. "If we're really quiet, I'll get you some, okay?"

We spent nearly an hour in that crawl space, waiting to be sure that our attackers truly had gone. Mara crawled into my lap shortly after my promise of ice cream and she had fallen asleep there. I didn't blame her; she'd been on the move all night with the rest of us. I'd been awake for well over twenty four hours and my body was beginning to feel the strain of that. I could feel the headache starting behind my eyes, feel the way my muscles tingled at the lack of proper resting time.

I was just beginning to fall asleep myself when my phone went off, jangling in the dead silence like a siren. I flailed, jerking out of my sleep daze and nearly bucking Mara off my lap as I scrambled for the phone, cursing up and down in my head. Had anyone heard? Was there anyone left listening?

"Hello?" I breathed as soon as I'd gotten the blasted thing turned on and to my ear. I hadn't bothered to look at the caller ID.

"Duo?" It was Heero's voice, gentle and worried. "Thank god you're alive…"

"Believe me, I did," I replied in a soft whisper. I'd thanked him more than once. "What the hell was that? Where are you?"

"They shouldn't have been there," he said, ignoring my questions. "They must have had Wu Fei's cell phone." He left 'so they must have him' to hang silently in the air between us. "I didn't expect they would be able to get into the labs before us..."

"Who is _they_, Heero?" I hissed, anger finally welling up within me. "What is going on? We could have all been killed back there- I don't know why those people hesitated but it is only because they did that we're all still here. I _will not_ let that happen again."

"I'm at the ice cream shop on fifteenth."

"Don't you _dare_ fucking hang up on me, you jerk," I growled. Mara opened sleepy eyes to look at me and I curbed my tongue. "You shouldn't have called me in the first place but you're not going to hang up now. Tell me what is going on or so help me the next time I see you I'm going to wring your neck myself."

"I'm sorry I called so soon, but I figured if they didn't have you by now they weren't going to. You're okay, aren't you?"

"I'm fine," I snapped. "Stop avoiding the question! If you're sorry you called and you're sorry you screwed up, then you need to really be sorry!"

"Just meet me at the ice cream shop." Which meant he wanted time to separate what he absolutely had to tell me from what he could still keep silent. I thought to protest only a second too late; the phone was already dead in my hands.

I cursed and just barely kept myself from chucking the phone across the tunnel. Mara's brows were creased as she stared at me, afraid of _me_ for the first time since I had met her - god that seemed like ages ago – and I immediately felt guilty. She wasn't the one to blame; she didn't know anything. I took a few deep breaths and then smiled at her, holding out my hands in the gentlest way I knew. "Come on, sweetie. Papa says he's at the ice cream store waiting for us. You want some ice cream?"

"Chocate?" she asked suspiciously as she allowed herself to be pulled back into my arms.

Laughing as quietly as I was able, I hefted her up to rest her weight on my hip. "Sure, lovely. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry- whatever flavor you like. All the flavors you like. We have to make a bit of a walk, though, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed, wrapping her arms around my neck and snuggling her face into my collarbone. "Sing!" she commanded before yawning.

"How do we ask nicely?" I prodded as I began to walk.

Her sigh sounded more like an indignant snort. "Sing, _please_?"

"You got it, pretty," I told her with a smile, trying to listen past what we were saying to what was going on above us. They must have moved on because I didn't hear even a breath of noise.

We made it out of the building without incident. The streets were deserted and I could understand why. It must have been a shock to the people on the colony to see men openly carrying guns in their midst. No one had called the cops and so they must have assumed that it _was_ the cops, despite the fact that none of the men had been dressed as Preventers. I wondered how far word would have spread by now. Were our pictures on the news yet? How many people would recognize us? Were we the good guys or the bad guys this time?

The ice cream shop wasn't as far as I'd thought it might be. I set Mara in an alleyway and asked her to sit very, very still between a pair of trash cans. She huddled down and put her finger over her lips with a smile. I think she thought it was a game or something, and so long as she stayed where she was, I wouldn't contradict her. The open, glass front wall of the shop was easily visible from just a few paces down the street and I would be able to hear Mara if she screamed. I kept my hand against my gun, though I left it in its holster; if I didn't have to, there was no sense in causing a scene.

Heero was sitting just inside the door in almost plain sight of people from the street. He had his face buried in a newspaper and a cup of coffee beside him; he must have been feeling the strain of being away this long as well. He didn't like coffee. I stuck to the shadows, watching him and watching the street around him. I had to. When I'd last seen him he'd been surrounded by the enemy and that meant that it was possible he was working under them against his will. It hadn't seemed that way on the phone, but one could never be too sure about these things.

Within an hour he'd spotted me without seeming like he had. There was a stiffness to his posture before which vanished when his eyes flicked over me. He laid his paper on the table and picked up his coffee mug. I let my eyes wander, taking in every single last detail of the shop and the street but there was no one there still that had been there when I started observing, save the people working behind the counter of the shop and a pair of high-school girls playing on a silver laptop behind Heero. Nothing. We were safe.

I ducked into the alley where I'd left Mara. She was sprawled on the ground like she was dead but as soon as I frantically touched her she opened sleepy eyes and asked if it was ice cream time yet. I grabbed her up and told her it was and assured her again that she could have any flavor she wanted, repeating over and over that she'd been a good girl. I could feel myself shaking; the stress of being back in soldier's boots, of protecting something, of finally being at least marginally safe again was making itself known. Relief was like a drug in my system as I crossed the street and opened the door to the ice cream shop.

Mara was immediately taken from me as Heero met me at the entrance. She clung to him with a happy squeal of "PAPA!" and he gave me a wide eyed look at which I had to laugh. She squirmed out of his grasp though she did not release his hand, and hauled him over to the glass display cases where she knew the ice cream laired. He hoisted her up by her waist to see the flavors, still a little bewildered at the sudden noise and warmth of having his "family" back with him.

"What took you so long?" he asked as Mara pointed at about eight different flavors.

"I wanted to make sure you weren't being watched," I said evenly, eyeing the case myself. My stomach rumbled in appreciation of the sight. I hadn't eaten since our flight earlier. "We're not, if you're interested in knowing."

"I knew that," he said. "But thank you for checking again. Wu Fei called."

"When? How?"

"About an hour ago," he said, brow wrinkling. I felt an answering tingle of wrongness about the statement. We'd definitely heard our cell phone ring in that lab but if it wasn't Wu Fei, if Wu Fei had his cell phone, whose was it? "He was with Milliardo."

My voice dropped. "So?"

"So…?"

"That one!" Mara shrieked, pointing to a disgusting looking, rainbow mix of ice cream. When Heero nodded, the man behind the counter began to make a kiddy cone for her.

"I…" he began, trailing off as though he wasn't sure what to say now that I was here, actually facing him. "I've booked a flight to the L2 cluster to meet them. It leaves in a couple hours."

"We're going? Just like that?"

"What do you want, Duo?" he said defensively. "I spoke to both of them and there didn't seem to be anything wrong. They didn't know anything about the other phone." I could see that he'd given it thought already, more thought than I'd been given time to have, but that still didn't ease the lump of doubt settling heavily in my stomach. "For all we know, someone figured out that tone and used it to their advantage and that's all."

"Did you call the others and even try to find out?" I replied, a little frustrated. I accepted the cone from the man behind the counter and handed it gently to Mara.

"I called Quatre first and he said Trowa called him last night to check in, and that means all of us have our phones."

I stared at him for a minute before realizing that the man behind the counter was watching us quietly, waiting to see if we wanted anything else or if Mara's cone would be all. With an angry face I put in an order for myself and told Heero he was paying for it. I received rolled eyes for my effort. "You don't think it was… Relena's… do you?" I said quietly, when the idea occurred to me.

He shrugged. "It's possible. I don't know."

I let it drop, took my ice cream when it came, and followed Mara's trail to a seat at one of the little round tables in the shop. Heero joined us a few minutes later, silent and tired. Though I had to force myself from saying anything, I managed to ignore him for a little bit and enjoy the ice cream. I could feel his eyes on me but I kept my attention focused elsewhere. He would never admit it aloud but he hated when I did that. He _hated_ being ignored more than I hated being silent.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled at last, fidgeting. He knew I was angry at him and I knew he wanted me to stop but there was no easy way for him to ask for that after he had screwed up so badly.

"Well if you don't want me to be angry with you, you _need_ to tell me what the fuck is going on," I said testily. I wasn't going to let him off the hook with only an apology this time. "I could have died back there because I didn't know. We _all_ could have died. You can't protect me all the time and if we get separated, then I'm going to _need_ to know what to be careful of. You _know_ that, Heero. You know. Stop thinking like an idiot and start remembering what it is to have to fight because obviously we have to right now."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? It shouldn't have happened."

He looked genuinely sorry, something I only very, very rarely saw in him. But it wasn't enough and we both knew it. "Sorry isn't going to cut it, Heero. Sorry isn't going to keep any of us alive longer." I gave him my hardest glare, the one I knew he couldn't look away from without feeling horrible, without knowing I meant what I said because it was the absolute truth.

"Okay," he conceded grudgingly; clearly he wanted to tell me no. He was angry because he knew I was right and that he could have lost me- that he nearly had. His consent meant that he knew that he still _could_ lose me, that I could still be hurt. His face twisted a little bit, nose wrinkling in frustration. "Fine." He threw a glance around the shop, eyes running in a calculating way over the other customers.

"But?" I prompted, following his gaze.

"Some of it will have to wait until the shuttle," he said seriously. "I can't risk it being overheard here. We'll have our own compartment and I can say more there. Okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, relaxing just a little.

He took a deep breath and nodded, seeming to relax as well. "There is some… information in the labs that is very dangerous. It's dangerous beyond you and me; the information could mean trouble for most of the _world_. It needs to be destroyed."

"Then why didn't we just blow the place while we were there?" I asked, crushing down my desire to ask what the information was.

"I wanted to make sure it was actually there," he said. "I wanted to make sure that if we destroyed the lab, we would actually be destroying the evidence. Trust me when I say that this is not something we need coming back unexpectedly later."

"So you saw the inside of the lab," I said carefully. "Do you think they have the information?"

Sighing, he shook his head in a helpless way. "If you'd asked me before we left Earth, I'd say no but you saw the state of it. They weren't looking for information anymore; they were waiting for us. They know us, Duo. They knew enough about us to know that we'd separate to investigate that particular ring tone."

The implications of that were a little scary. Being even a little predictable was a bad thing when you were in this sort of situation. "You think who-ever is after us wants to separate us?"

"Wouldn't you?" he pointed out evenly. "Divide and conquer…"

I hated when he talked like that. It brought back too many bad memories of the times he'd given up in the past. "So let's just blow the places," I said under my breath. "On the news they'd been saying that they'd tried to get into the L1 lab but had been kept at bay by explosives, right? If there were trigger explosives like that, we should be able to set them off remotely."

"If we could have just done that I would have done it from home. We'll have to go in person. We have to make sure the information is there to be destroyed before we do it."

"So let's at least split up!" I lowered my voice when I noticed several people glance in our direction at my exclamation. "We can cover more ground if we're split up, right?"

"It's not that easy," he hedged, eyes slipping away from mine, refusing to meet my stare. "I promise you'll understand why once we're on the shuttle."

"Okay so… no splitting up- yet. What are we going to do instead?" For not having most of the information I feared I would need, my head was startlingly clear. Focused. This was the mission, these were the guidelines, and that was the kid we'd have to keep safe during all this, smearing ice cream on the table.

He thought for a moment, watching Mara and I as we ate, considering. I knew where his mind was- the same place as mine. How do we keep a three year old safe? There was no way we'd be able to do anything quickly as long as she was with us. It was a miracle she was even still alive. It was a miracle any of us were. If we got into another fight I wouldn't be able to shoot with her in my arms and I couldn't put her down because I wouldn't have enough control of her. That left…

"We'll have to drop her with Milliardo, like I said I would," Heero said before I could speak. "It's too hard for us to keep her with us and do this. Milliardo will have an easier time disappearing with her if he doesn't have to go anywhere public. We can probably send Wu Fei off to hit some of the other labs, so that will speed things up a bit."

I didn't like it but there wasn't much I could say to the contrary. Instead I let it drop and we lapsed into silence once more. Mara was busy with her ice cream still and I was trying to plot the fastest route in my head between the colonies. I could tell that Heero was off in his head thinking as well, with his eyes half closed and unfocused.

It felt good to eat and settle down a little bit after the fight we'd just escaped but the adrenaline was still thick in my blood and I couldn't help casting nervous glances in the direction of the window wall. Was someone watching? Were they just waiting for us to leave? It was unsettling, to say the least and when Heero finally suggested that we leave to make the shuttle I was on my feet heading for the door before he'd finished speaking. He gently plucked Mara from her seat and followed wordlessly.

* * *

/**End Chapter Twenty Two, Inheritance**/

* * *


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing After Colony (A/C) and its plot, characters and settings are NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Three

* * *

**

"Is there anything else I can do for you before take-off?" the attendant asked, smiling sweetly for the millionth time in the past five minutes.

"Just the food, and a couple of blankets," Heero told her gruffly, trying his best to keep Mara's hands out of his hair and failing miserably.

I couldn't help laughing as the stewardess left, telling us that if we needed anything our call button would bring someone running. We'd made it to the spaceport without incident, although we'd had to skirt around a group of suspicious looking people. The compartment we were seated in was pretty small, kind of like if we'd been riding a train back on Earth. The door, at least, sealed much better than any train I'd ever been on and the walls looked to be pretty sound-proof; I couldn't hear the shuttle engines at all. It felt a little weird to take conventional transportation between the colonies, as I couldn't remember the last time I had.

I relaxed back into the soft red cushions and gave Heero a level, still somewhat amused look. He had gotten Mara out of his hair, literally, and had her seated next to him. He was trying his best to gently lecture her but she kept talking over him, asking questions like "where are we going?" and "what's this?" as she reached for the call button. I knew that he was stalling, waiting to make sure that the shuttle attendants weren't going to bust in on us in the middle of talking.

A short while later some _real_ food was brought to us, some kind of light sandwich and fruit with milk for Mara and some kind of thin, disgusting juice for me and Heero. Thinking ahead, Heero moved Mara to the floor to eat so that she wouldn't get food everywhere on the seats. It was a very wise decision, we learned shortly after she'd spilled crumbly sandwich meat all over the place.

Once the food was out of the way there was no more reason for stalling but he remained silent, eyes trained a little tiredly on Mara. It had been a long while since we'd both been up this long doing this much. I was tempted to take a nap and ask him about it later but I knew that my best chance at getting information was when there was nowhere else for him to go and nothing else for him to do. So I settled back in my seat, propped my feet up on the bench on his side, and raised an eyebrow in question.

"So? What's up with all this?"

He sighed and finally turned his attention to me. "Before I say anything else, I want you to know that I don't want to tell you this. Any of it. And if I thought that there was any way we could get out of this without you knowing, I wouldn't tell you."

That hurt, but I forced myself to let it slide. "Okay."

After looking me up and down once to make sure that I was really okay, he laid back against his chair as well. "You know the good professors built, or helped build, a lot of weapons. The most well known of those were the gundams: billion dollar or more investments into rare metals, specialized controls that would need months of training to even begin to understand, and weaponry equipment that had previously been unfathomable."

"I know what a gundam is, Heero," I said drolly, eyes narrowed.

"And it never, in the last five or six years, occurred to you as to _why_ they might have let a handful of adolescent boys with shady backgrounds run off with the most powerful weapons ever created?"

_That_ gave me pause. I mean, I had wondered occasionally 'why us' but it just seemed too obvious every time I thought of it. I mean, we'd done it all right, hadn't we? We'd ended the war just like we were supposed to do. "We had training," I remarked after a moment. "You had special training and the rest of us all had experience with mobile suits." He gave me a very good you-know-better look and I felt my face flush a little. "Well then why do you think they did it?"

"I assume you remember the words Operation Meteor?"

_They want Meteor_. Milliardo's phone call and the message we'd heard just before leaving Earth fluttered uneasily through my mind. "Yeah… drop a colony… Why? Is that what this is about?"

"Sort of," he said. "Except not how you know it. Meteor was never about dropping a colony; something like that can be stopped. What they're after now, the _real_ Meteor… can't." His eyes dropped to Mara for a second and his eyes nearly closed. I could practically feel the weight of whatever it was he had been hiding. "It's _us_. Our blood - or more accurately what's in our blood - that they want."

My thoughts moved uncomfortably back to the phone conversation I'd had with the doctor who had tested our blood. I couldn't help the way my stomach flopped, making me feel sick. I should have told him. I should have warned him about the testing and the markers the doctor had said they'd found but I couldn't find the words to tell him I'd screwed up. "So what is it?" I asked uncertainly, guiltily.

A muscle in his jaw jumped and I could tell that this was the part he'd tried so hard to keep from me. "Viral code," he said at last. My eyes closed and I swallowed thickly. "In your blood, in my blood and in the Peacecraft line are three different segments of the same viral code. They're harmless while separated between us but if they are cultivated together correctly, they can become the most deadly virus anyone's ever seen."

"Ffff…" I breathed out slowly, forcing myself to remain calm and not curse in front of the kid. Panicking now would change nothing. It would solve nothing. Panicking would make it worse, I told myself as I took a few deep, soothing breaths. I was getting information from him, finally, and I didn't want to lose that by flipping out or acting like an ass. "Worse than the L2 plague?"

"It _is_ the L2 plague," he said, refusing to meet my shocked gaze. "What happened on that colony wasn't a _mistake_. That was a prototype for what's in our blood. The only reason anyone survived that was because the code was imperfect and the virus malfunctioned."

"How do you know it wouldn't this time?" I said, stomach tight with nausea at having to remember the days the plague ran rampant around my home colony. It was still the worst experience of my life, especially after I'd lost Solo to it.

"It wouldn't," he assured me gravely. "But even if it would malfunction the same way, can we really risk it? Do you know how many people survived from that colony?"

I nodded. I knew. I was one of only a few dozen survivors, out of the thousands of people that had lived there. They'd moved us to a new colony as soon as they were sure it was 'safe' to do so. "There's no way," I whispered. "Someone would have stopped them…"

But one look from him and I knew I was only lying to myself. "No one stopped them. No one wanted to; they wanted freedom and that is what our dear friends offered them."

"At what cost?" I closed my eyes, resting my elbows on my knees and putting my head in my hands. I felt sick. How could anyone have been so heartless? "They went along with it…"

"The colony leaders helped," he said, voice even again. "They supplied a 'cure' after a while, but it wasn't anything the afflicted body wasn't already doing for itself. Didn't you ever think it was kind of strange that they never attempted to distribute a vaccination?"

"No," I said, searching my memories of the event. "No, it wasn't. They couldn't. They said that… they said there wasn't a clear cause of death. The people that died simply… stopped. It was like their bodies just suddenly failed."

He nodded, glancing over to me in the same moment as I looked to him. "Like they fell apart," he agreed. "That's exactly what happened. It disassembles the human body on a very base level so that the infected body ceases to function properly. Once active, the virus was supposed to operate for sixteen hours. The first eight would be spent replicating like hell, the second eight destroying everything it touches."

"And after that?"

"After that the virus degrades and produces an enzyme that disintegrates its leftovers. There's no trace of what killed the person." He took a deep breath and finally leaned back in his chair a little. "The only reason anyone survived the L2 test was because in some cases the virus shut itself down early and deleted itself. If the body was adaptable enough to salvage functioning, they lived. But most of the L2 survivors were kids and almost all of the ones left are in the care of one hospital or another."

I let out the breath I'd been holding, stunned. Shocked. "Why would anyone create something like that?"

"It was a war," he said simply, eyes to the shuttle ceiling. "People do desperate, horrible things during wars." I knew he wasn't just talking about the virus; his own past and the things he had done still bothered him immensely. "We should know that better than anyone."

"I've never been that desperate," I said seriously. "They would have wiped out all of human kind with something like that, including themselves."

"Not necessarily," he contradicted. "If the colonies released it in the Earth Sphere, all they would have to do would be to restrict or even sever travel between the two for a couple of months and let the virus run its course. The colony leaders knew that so they let the professors do what they needed to do."

Things were beginning to really come together for me. "But it's not just the colony leaders that know now, is it? If they got all the parts, anyone could make the virus…"

"Anyone that knew," Heero clarified. "No one that doesn't already know what it is would be able to tell, though. It expresses itself in our blood as something that resembles an antibody, but it isn't. It's just loose genetic code."

So that was it. Genetics. Heero's bizarre behavior the last couple weeks came into sharp perspective. "Let me guess; it's transmissible via reproduction."

He nodded, eyes flickering over to where Mara leaned against the side of the bench and pushed empty, overturned cups around on the floor in a game. "Yeah."

"So she's…"

"Yeah," he agreed. "Two out of three." He looked slowly, sharply to me, eyes narrowed not in anger, as I thought they might, but in frustration. "That's why I tried so hard to keep the two of you apart. _You_ have got the third part and that puts _everyone_ at risk- and by everyone I mean literally _everyone_. It's not just you and me right now, Duo," he told me seriously, staring me straight in the eyes. "If we die now the entire Earth Sphere and the colonies could go down with us."

Guilt welled up within me because I knew he was blaming me for pushing to have her there with us and he had every right. It suddenly felt like it was my fault we were in so much trouble. I tamped down the urge to apologize, however, because I knew it wasn't. "If you'd told me this from the start, you know I would have worked with you."

"Is it any better knowing?" he asked dully, almost as though he were ignoring what I said. "Does it make you feel better to know what you're carrying?"

My throat closed and I couldn't hold his gaze any longer. My eyes dropped guiltily to the floor again. "No," I said after a while. "It doesn't."

I heard him put his head back against the seat again and I looked up, suddenly feeling very… worn. I was still tired, for sure, but it was different than just fatigue. It was the sort of feeling that makes people want to give up everything and just say 'fuck it' until things get better. I wanted to turn over and go to sleep so that I could wake up to someone saying 'surprise! It was all a really god-awful bad dream.' But I wasn't asleep and I couldn't wake up from my life, so I had to make the best of it.

"What about a cure?"

He made a noise that very nearly sounded like a laugh. "I don't know. You'll have to ask Trowa; he's the only one that would know about it besides the creators."

"So Trowa knew? Do you think he told Quatre?" It was a cruel thing to ask but the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. It was almost blatantly asking if he thought Trowa trusted Quatre more than Heero trusted me.

Silence.

I sighed. Obviously I'd gotten everything I was going to get from him. I had the gist of what I assumed was everything he knew and it would have to be enough for now. I shook my head, slumping back in my seat. Mara had tired of her game and was crawling up onto my lap to snuggle against my side and play with the coins on the edge of my pocket. They clinked together, filling the silence for a few long minutes, accompanied so gently with Mara's childish murmurs. I couldn't think properly. Everything was just such a blank inside, so hollow and surreal.

"It might have been easier if we'd just managed to die in the war, don't you think?" I asked, smiling a little.

"We were supposed to," he replied, eyes still closed. "I should have killed you when I got here; I thought about it, too, until I saw you. I could never do it."

"And now? If you did it now, this would all end, right?"

"No."

My nose wrinkled a little. "No it wouldn't or-?"

"No," he interrupted a little forcefully, looking sharply at me. "I _won't_ do that. I don't want to hear you even suggest it, Duo. Ever."

We stared at one another for a few minutes, silently. I don't know what was running through his head but I know it can't have been good. All I could think about what how easy it would have been if one of us died, or if one of us died now. It would have to me because I don't think either of us could have killed Mara. I didn't want to die but what was my life in comparison to the entire rest of the human race? I was already living on borrowed time; there was no way I should have survived the war's end.

"I'm sorry," he said at last and for once he sounded like he really meant it.

"I know," I whispered, tucking Mara in closer to me. "So am I."

God I felt tired. That under-the-skin weightless feeling that occurred when I knew I needed to do something but didn't know what had begun to seep into my bones and I just felt like if I could get some sleep this day would end and tomorrow would be better. I kept trying to wrap my mind around all of it but it just seemed so… ridiculous. It was so… _out there_, I suppose, that it didn't feel real. I couldn't understand why I had never been told; I should have been told. I should have known all of this from the beginning, regardless of what anyone thought it might do to me.

"Besides," he said quietly. "It's not so easy as just dying. If you die, they can still use your blood. So… don't die."

"I'll get right on it," I said, closing my eyes. The hard part would be just trying to keep that promise.

* * *

/**End Chapter Twenty Three, Inheritance**/

* * *


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing After Colony (A/C) and its plot, characters, and settings are NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Four

* * *

**

The shuttle was docked by the time Heero shook me gently awake. He was on his feet already with a sleeping Mara cradled in one arm, her head resting on his shoulder. I don't think he'd slept at all. "Come on, sleepy," he'd said, opening the compartment door with the press of a button.

I clambered wearily to my feet. I couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour or two and sleep like that was far from refreshing. I felt more tired than I would have been if I'd just stayed awake the whole flight. "How far is it?" I yawned, scrubbing at my eyes with the palm of my hand.

"Not far," he assured me.

The park was a good twenty minute walk from the docking port and despite what Heero said, it seemed like quite a bit longer. There were a lot of people in the streets and none of them seemed to pay us any mind. It was peaceful in that eerie, slightly-too-normal way, like something was not quite right. The feeling that we were being watched, even though no one was really looking at us, crept over me and turned my stomach. Heero didn't seem to notice and if he did, he didn't care. We moved quickly and precisely, staying mostly to well-populated streets.

I knew his reasoning behind that, behind being around a lot of people, but it didn't seem safe to me. While it was true that _most_ pursuers would not give chase or begin a firefight in the middle of a crowded area this was not always the case. We also had no idea where we stood in relation to the public. If there had been a news broadcast saying we were armed and dangerous and someone spotted us, they might attack and we would not be given warning enough to expect it. We still didn't know if we were the good guys or the bad guys or if no one even knew what was going on past what Heero and I had seen before leaving home. Could we expect help or would everyone be after us?

When we finally made it to the park, my nerves were pretty taut but nothing had happened. Mara had enjoyed the piggy-back ride I'd given her for most of the way after she'd woken. But as soon as we set foot on the grass she wriggled from my grasp and took off running for the nearest play structure. I nearly followed her but just in time I caught sight of Milliardo and Wu Fei, sitting on the structure already, watching us approach. A light touch brushed the edge of my hand and I glanced to Heero, who gave me a reassuring nod.

"They wouldn't be sitting there if they didn't think it was safe," he reminded me in a low, mumbled whisper.

"Heero, I don't know _what's_ safe anymore," I replied, trying not to be too obvious about our conversation as we walked toward them. Wu Fei had risen from his swing seat and moved to the perimeter of the sandy area to keep a lookout. "Two days ago I would have said pretty much everything."

"Glad to see you made it," Milliardo called when we were in range. He didn't move to look at us, instead keeping his brilliantly blue eyes glued on Mara's romping form. She'd gotten herself halfway onto a tire swing and was wheeling herself wildly about in circles with one foot, squealing in delight. "All of you."

"It was close," Heero replied tiredly. I don't think he'd slept on the shuttle. "Where are you taking her?"

"You know I can't tell you that," Milliardo said, his eyes flicking to the ground briefly in guilt. "She'll be safe."

Heero sighed and leaned against one of the play structure's support poles. "I know." He scrubbed at his eye with the palm of his hand. "How do we get back in contact with you when we're done? You did a pretty damn good job disappearing the last time."

"I'm sorry," Milliardo responded. "You know I am."

I stopped listening then and moved away from them to stand with Wu Fei. I trusted that, when they were done talking, Heero would let me know what the new plan was so that we could act accordingly. He hadn't wanted to tell me the whole story but at this point there was no denying that I need to know. When I stepped up next to him on the edge, Wu Fei glanced over and quickly away again. A glimmer of guilt and washed out amusement sparked within me at the motion.

"So you knew all about this, too?" I said casually, not looking at him. I didn't have to see him to know the way he clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes without looking at me. "You never once thought of telling me, either?"

"You never asked and it was never my responsibility to tell you, Maxwell," he shot back, though he kept his volume and tone carefully under control. "When the war ended, we _all_ thought it was done for good."

"Well, you all thought wrong, eh?" I quipped, facing him. "Maybe you'll learn something about trusting people from this experience. Maybe we all will if we live through it."

"Feel free to leave if you just want to stand here and be an ass," he said, that tiny, irritated tone edging into his voice. "If Heero told you, really told you, then it should be obvious the information was not kept from you with malicious intention." I felt a little guilty again as he finally turned to look at me and I saw a mix of emotion in his black eyes. When he spoke his voice was low and soft, as I had only heard it a scant handful of times prior. "You have _no idea_. If I could trade places with someone to be ignorant of the situation…" He sighed and looked away to Heero and Millardo, that cold, bitter mask he always wore slipping onto his features once more. "But I can't be and now, neither can you so you'll have to deal with it. Don't take it out on the people trying to help."

I swallowed against the way my stomach turned. I'd forgotten how Wu Fei bottled things until they burst; he'd been my favorite person to tease but when he finally did snap it always scared me a little bit. I tossed around for something to say, some way to change the subject but I came up blank for a few long, awkward minutes. Eventually I settled for a weak, "We should go see what they've decided."

Without giving me a second glance he nodded and moved for where Heero and Milliardo were resting. Mara was flopped over the tire swing, making lazy grabby-hands at the little rocks and sticks that had migrated onto the play area. I grabbed her around the middle and hoisted her, squealing, into the air above my head. "Time to go meet someone, sweetie," I told her as I set her on the ground again and took her hand.

When we reached the other two again they were just silently watching us. Milliardo was as tense as I've ever seen him, although he was obviously trying his best to hide it. His shoulders were a little too high, his lips pressed together a little too tightly. If Mara hadn't chosen to distract my attention by hiding behind my legs, I might have told him to relax. As it was I found myself on one knee, bringing Mara around to my front again and assuring her it was all right. She immediately attached herself to Heero's leg and stared up at Milliardo with wide blue eyes.

"That's really her?" Milliardo asked, words a little choked as he motioned to Mara with a flick of his eyes.

"That's her," Heero said solemnly.

"Dear god, she looks like 'Lena…" He moved and knelt in front of Heero and Mara, brushing her dirty blonde bangs from her face. "Hi sweetie. Do you know who I am?"

Mara bit her lip in nervous thought and looked up to me and Heero as though we might give her the answer. When neither of us offered her anything more than a shrug and a smile, she turned back to Milliardo. She shrank into Heero's leg some more and wrapped one hand into the seam of his pant leg. "Unca Miyardo?" she asked, as though afraid to get the answer wrong.

Milliardo blinked, not having expected her to know an answer at all. "Yes, very good!" He gave Heero and me a questioning look.

I smiled and laid a hand on her hair. "Relena made a photo album of everything that Mara should know. As far as we can tell, they read it together every night like a storybook. If she can name everyone in it, she knows a _lot_ more people by name than any other kid her age should."

"That's amazing… although with Relena I suppose I ought to have expected that sort of training." He turned his attention back to Mara. "Would you like to come play with me for a little bit at my house?"

Her grip tightened on Heero's leg and he looked down at her with a smile; the sort I hadn't seen in a while. "It's okay, sweetie. We'll come get you soon. You'll have fun."

Milliardo extended his hand to her and she took it tentatively, stepping away from Heero with obvious reserve. She didn't know this man except for in a picture and what her mother may have told her and at three years old, I was pretty sure she wouldn't remember most of that. He pulled her over to him and kept his grip on her as he stood so that she came with him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and adjusted herself appropriately before turning to look at Heero again.

"Take care of her," Heero said solemnly, staring Milliardo in the eyes as the other straightened with Mara now comfortably in his arms. "I swear to god if I don't get a call in a few days telling me she's perfectly fine-"

"She'll _be_ perfectly fine," Milliardo assured him, interrupting him before he could get too far. "Call the number I gave you when you get back into town and I'll contact you when I get the notification. I've got to run, though; the shuttle leaves in less than an hour."

He didn't look happy about having to leave Mara with Milliardo, but he knew as well as I did that there wasn't a choice anymore. She was a liability. She could get us killed if she didn't get herself killed first. So it was with great resign that he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Be good, kiddo."

Before I could say goodbye as well, Wu Fei nudged my arm. "We've got company," he said under his breath. He'd been keeping watch even while the rest of us were conversing. "Six, maybe seven. All presumably armed. You guys were followed by quite the escort."

I followed where his line of sight had been and caught a flash of black toward the more forested end of the park. Despite the way my skin prickled, I smiled when I noticed Heero discreetly looking as well. "Plans?" I asked sweetly, showing no sign that I'd seen the group.

"Take Milliardo to the spaceport," Heero told me, shifting so that he could switch places with me. "Wu Fei and I will draw them off."

"Like Hell," I responded. "Why don't you and I draw them off?"

He made an irritated noise. "Because if you and I lead them off then they are all chasing you and I and if both of us die everyone is going to be in a shit-ton of trouble. _Especially_ if they manage to kill _you_."

I didn't have to like it to agree to it, and we didn't have time to change the plan. As soon as Heero finished speaking a bullet glanced off the play structure beside Wu Fei and Mara shrieked. We scattered like mice with Heero and Wu Fei moving the opposite direction as Milliardo and I. They drew attention to themselves with their firearms as we slipped across the edge of the park and back into the city.

The spaceport he was departing from was the same as we'd come in on, so it wasn't far. We spoke very little and stopped even less often as we ran. The streets were really not the safest place to be right then; if they would attack in so public a place as a central park area, there was no telling how desperate they really were. I somehow doubted that they would open fire if they found us within the spaceport, but I had seen and even been a part of crazier things in my short lifetime.

"You know our numbers if anything goes wrong," I told Milliardo seriously as I stopped him at his gate. "Don't let her get hurt. If everything that Heero told me is true, she can cause a lot of trouble if she gets hurt. And… take care of yourself," I said seriously. "It… call us sometime, okay? It was hard thinking you'd died too."

He smiled. "Take care of yourself and I'll see you in a few days."

With that, he disappeared down the terminal toward his shuttle. I managed to relax a little after that. I was still on alert but I didn't feel like the world was going to come down around my ears anymore. The spaceport was a busy place and it wasn't long before I found myself back outside, wandering.

I cursed up and down when I realized that I had no idea what to do then. Heero had done a good job drawing them off, but I had no idea where he was going to lead them or if he would be able to find me again. I didn't dare leave a trail because no matter how discreet or erratic a trail it might be, it would still lead straight to me for anyone looking.

He'd gone in the opposite direction of the laboratory; I knew only because these were my streets. The L2 colonies all had the same basic design inside and this was the colony the survivors of the plague had been carted to, after it had passed. This was where I had stumbled upon a mobile suit lab, where I had stowed away on a transport leaving the lab, where I had met Doctor G and been given my world-saving mission.

Shaking off the memory as quickly as possible, I forced myself to calm down and think. If I were Heero right now, being followed by someone armed, where would I go? It wasn't a hard decision. I'd head for the most lively, crowded place, lose them, and double back the way I'd come. I would meet up with me at an endpoint, which meant either meeting at the lab, which was a dangerous choice at best, or meeting at a docking port, which was chancy at best.

So the lab it was. As I'd taken the direction opposite Heero, I was only a block or two from where I needed to be. If I'd taken the main streets the journey would have been less than fifteen minutes. It took a little over twice that by the back roads but that was a fine trade-off for being safe. I didn't see anyone suspicious, no one that seemed to be doing anything other than their business as usual. It was a bit of a relief but honestly I was just glad to see the flat, blank wall of the lab entrance

I wasn't stupid, of course. I hung around outside for a while, watching all of the directions. G had placed the lab's entrance in a particularly hard to reach place, however, and so there was little chance that anyone would be anything but in plain sight if they were camped out around the entrance. I waited anyway, for nearly an hour before I moved in closer and laid hands against the metal wall.

The lab door looked just like the first one- a blank wall down an alley with one slightly discolored, square foot of sheet metal its side. I made very sure to sit and watch before approaching it but there was no movement at all. Nothing. I could hear the far off sounds of people and heard several cars drive past the other side of the alley, though it curved so that I couldn't actually see them. Just to be sure, I took more than enough time to observe, halfway hoping that Heero might show. He didn't, though, and in the end I moved in by myself.

The keypad was simple. A ridge on the wall allowed me to push one of the square foot blocks down; behind it was the access pad. I pressed one hand to it and felt the instant prick of the DNA check. Behind the wall I heard the locking mechanism whir to life and a section of the wall split and drew inward, revealing a long, downward sloping hallway. Lights on the walls, close to the floors, fanned forward, brightening my way as I stepped inside and the wall-door closed.

It was eerie and silent inside, the tiny clicks of the lights activating the only sound echoing down the hallway. I locked the door behind me and proceeded to walk downwards for several minutes, toward the outside rim of the colony. The labs must have been built into the sublayer of the colonies; that was the only reason I could think of for them not having been discovered until now. The sublayer contained all of the maintenance areas, but there were large, minimally used gaps made for storage and holding resources.

As I neared the end of the tunnel, I heard something up ahead. The whine of machinery mixed with the rustling of papers. My stomach dropped into my feet; were they already here? My hand found its way to my gun and I slipped it from its holster without a sound. God help me, I thought as I edged closer to the exit. If they were here inside then they had surrounded the outside and that meant that I wasn't getting out of this without a fight.

I cocked my gun and the rustling stopped. My grip tightened on my gun when I heard the click of a holster being undone. With frayed nerves, I peeked around the corner and caught sight of someone as they ducked behind a table full of electronic equipment. Confused, I swept a quick glance around the area and then ducked back into cover. There was no one else I could see aside from that one person.

Had Heero somehow made it here before me?

"Heero?" I called gently. It didn't hurt to ask; who-ever it was already knew I was there.

"No?" came the trepid response.

My eyes widened. I knew that voice.

* * *

/**End Chapter Twenty Four, Inheritance**/

* * *


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Five

* * *

**

"Trowa?" I asked, coming fully around the corner.

"Duo?" he responded, peeking around the equipment to get a better look at me. He looked as confused as I felt.

"Fuck, you scared the shit out of me," I snapped testily, angrily pushing on the safety lock as I lowered my weapon. "I thought you were one of the people after us."

He gave me a dry look as his own gun disappeared into its holster. His attention was then immediately off of me and back to the papers he'd been sifting through so intently when I'd arrived. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I- what are _you_ doing here?" I returned, eyes narrowing. Heero had said that Trowa knew about the anti-virus. If that were true, would Trowa try to play as dumb as Heero and not tell me anything?

He shoved an entire pile of printed pages onto the floor. "Looking for something," he told me absently as he began digging into the next pile. The place was beginning to look like the L1 lab we'd just come from- a mess.

"Viral information?" I questioned levelly, as though I was asking about something only mildly interesting.

His fingers stopped sorting and I saw the subtle yet telling lift of his shoulders as he bristled. He'd been caught and he knew it but would he tell the truth even after being confronted? For a few seconds I thought that he might not, that he might try to shrug it off like he didn't know what I was talking about or that it was nothing. Instead his shoulders dropped and his eyes closed in graceful defeat.

"He told you?"

"Probably as much as he could," I responded, relaxing. I hadn't wanted to be angry with Trowa and it was a relief to know that at least someone was able to recognize that, despite the years we'd spent playing at domesticity, inside we were _all_ still soldiers. "He said I would have to ask _you_ about the anti-virus," I said seriously. "I don't like being kept in the dark."

It was a less than subtle hint and he seemed to get the idea quickly. "There isn't one," he said simply.

"There… _what_?"

"There _isn't_ an anti-virus, nor will there ever be one," he clarified, hands once again moving through the papers.

"But they… surely- but that…" My mind had frozen with a sudden, gripping sense of panic. No cure? My stomach tightened in the most sickening way and I couldn't seem to banish the images of my L2 friends dying before my eyes while I sat by, watching helplessly. If this… this _disease_ got out now, would that happen all over again? "None at all?"

"Well, half of one." He paused long enough to give me a searching look. "How much did Heero tell you?"

I took a deep breath and tried to calmly organize what I knew into the quickest story. "That basically there is coding for the worst virus ever split up between me, him, and Relena, two-thirds of which was given to Mara upon birth."

Nodding, he returned to his work. "They were careful about the anti-virus too. It wouldn't have worked if the people they were trying to threaten had the anti-virus. They split the coding in two and gave half of it to Trowa Barton and half of it to Quatre Winner. Only," he said slowly, "Trowa Barton was killed and the first half of that code died with him."

"Shouldn't they have given it to you? I mean, if you took over his job and name and everything else, wouldn't they have given that to you, too?"

He nodded, shoving his paper pile onto the floor again to start on the next. "Yeah," he agreed in that irritating monotone. "They should have put it in me or in _someone_, but it had become moot by the time they would have. Meteor had been scratched; they were tossing their luck in with us as pilots instead of as biological weapons."

"It was a good idea; we _did_ end the war," I said carefully, skimming the pages he was flipping through as he went. "But now what? What are we going to do if…" I trailed off, swallowing thickly. I didn't want to ask what would happen if someone got hold of the full viral coding because the only way that was going to happen was over my dead body- literally.

"I don't know," he said resignedly. "I… I don't know. I'm not sure they can do anything with it anymore. I've been to the L3, L4, and L5 labs but they were all locked and untouched- no information left. The L1 lab got raided just after I'd gotten there. I had to run for it."

I laughed, but it was the nervous sort of laugh that wards off a larger fear. "Did you drop your phone?"

His nose wrinkled and he paused long enough to glance at me. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"It rang while we were there," I said, smiling. If it was Trowa's phone, if he'd just dropped it and they hadn't found it, then perhaps our enemies weren't as smart as we'd given them credit for earlier. "We were attacked before we could find it."

He winced. "It was probably Quatre calling. The last time I spoke with him…" He trailed off, his entire body bristling.

Immediately I was on guard, though I took care not to show it. "What time did you last speak with him?" I asked carefully, giving him a significant look.

"I think it was about one," he responded, hands slipping from the papers to his holster.

My eyes flicked to my one o'clock and I saw a flicker of motion at the far end of the lab. "Yeah," I agreed under my breath, moving myself behind one of the larger pieces of equipment. I don't think we'd been seen, although I doubted that we hadn't been heard. We hadn't been talking particularly quietly.

The click of Trowa's gun told me that he'd moved as well, probably taking cover. I risked a glance around the side of the machine but who-ever was here had disappeared behind the massive amount of clutter. I cursed silently, mind racing and ears straining to hear any whisper of sound. Nothing. Either they were really good at being silent or they'd stopped moving. If we moved now we would likely give ourselves away, which was the last thing we needed right then.

I took a breath and gently tugged my phone from my pocket. This was my turf, I thought, my resolve tightening. My phone's keys had been put on silent the moment I received the phone and they made no noise as I began dialing. I watched the numbers on the screen as I waited for it to connect. The screen blanked after a few seconds and a timer began to tick by soundlessly as a clicking noise from the earpiece signaled it was ringing.

Across the lab, the shrill, harsh noise of a maintenance phone ringing smashed through the silence. I heard Trowa startle nearby but more importantly, I heard a cry from across the room and the shiver of equipment as someone crashed into it. Confused, I stuck my head out and closed my phone. For the second time in a very short while, I recognized the voice.

"Heero?" I called tentatively. My voice echoed strangely all around the surrounding area.

"I'm going to kill you," came the irritated yet relieved response. He dropped around the side of a stack of gundam parts and gave me a scathing glare as he began walking our way.

I started laughing, unable to help myself. The number of times I had managed to startle or scare Heero could be counted on one hand. "Sorry, I thought you were… you know. Trowa's here," I said, my tone becoming far more serious as Trowa rose from where he had been crouching. "And… we have a _major_ problem."

There weren't a lot of issues that could have been a 'major problem' right then and he guessed without my having to tell him. "No antidote?"

"No antidote," I agreed, holstering my gun. "Quatre's got part of it but Trowa doesn't."

The phrase 'we are so fucked' might have been appropriate right then but no one said a word. I could practically see the cogs turning in Heero's head as he tried to rearrange everything to fit the dangerous new situation. We would have to be doubly careful now to make sure that neither of us were caught or killed. If someone out there had the information about the virus, they probably had the information about the antidote and they probably assumed it would be safe, just like we had.

"Trowa's been to the other labs," I offered quietly.

Heero's gaze fell to Trowa then and the boy shrugged. "Nothing was touched but nothing was there. Everything was locked and pristine- even your place."

Scowl deepening, Heero sighed. "You're sure?"

Trowa nodded. "I didn't get a chance to check your place properly- I got attacked."

"Wu Fei checked and didn't find anything. He must have gotten there before you." He cursed and his hands worked themselves into fists at his sides. "That means the information was in the original L1 lab."

"They've got it surrounded," Trowa said dully. "It's all over the news. No one had gotten in last I heard."

"Someone's been in," Heero assured him. "Maybe not the public, maybe not right now, but someone got in."

Before any of us could even try to think of a response for that, the distant sound of footsteps echoed from the direction Heero had come. He'd been followed. "You didn't lose them?" I hissed, giving him an incredulous stare as he herded us behind cover simply by moving forward.

He gave me a look that quite clearly told me to shut up because I was being ridiculous. "Obviously not. There can't be that many and they're coming along the back way." His tone made it fairly clear that when he said there couldn't be many he meant there couldn't be many _left_. "Get out the front and I'll take care of them and come afterwards."

"Meet at the docking station?" I asked, heading for the doors even as I spoke.

"I'd suggest running," he replied, motioning with one hand to the fire-truck red cabinet a few yards away- explosives. He intended to blow the entire place. "Take care of him, Trowa," he ordered as Trowa joined my retreat.

"I can take care of myself," I shot. "Good luck."

He ignored me as he checked the clip on his gun and made for the cabinet. I stuck my tongue out at the back of his head and dogged after Trowa, who was heading steadily down the hallway. "We probably _should_ hurry," I said as I caught up. "The back way in is protected by blast doors, but the front isn't.

Silence fell between us as we walked, the little floor and ceiling lights brightening and fading as we went. It was eerie and calm, despite that I knew we were on our way away from what would probably be a massive explosion. Trowa didn't seem to be bothered at all; he was doing the same as Heero had been and checking his weapon.

His long fingers flew over the keypad just inside the door. We moved to the sides as soon as it hissed open but nothing happened. I counted to ten, eyes locked with Trowa's but still there was nothing. When I chanced a glance around the exit frame and scanned the area, I didn't see anyone. I ducked back again and motioned to Trowa but when he looked he only gave me an indifferent shrug- nothing. If they'd followed Heero then it made sense that they hadn't found the front entrance yet- it wasn't exactly conspicuous and they'd probably gotten into the others by following someone through the front. I let out the breath I'd been holding and dropped around the corner, shooting a grin to Trowa.

"Looks like we beat them here!" I said with a low chuckle, although it was spoken a little too soon. The first bullet buried itself in the wall beside my head.

The second, in me.

* * *

/**End Chapter Twenty Five, Inheritance**/

* * *

Notes:

* * *

:is brick'd by readers: 

Thanks to those people who guessed last chapter! Some of you were right (a lot of you guessed Relena, but I assure you, she's quite dead) and some of your had wild guesses, but they all made me a very happy girl. Any new specualtion/outcries?

* * *


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing A/C is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Six

* * *

**

I was sharply aware of Trowa's hands and the way his fingers dug into my muscles as he hauled me back inside the relative safety of the hallway. The hiss of the door bit into my senses before Trowa locked the door shut and everything became muffled and fuzzy. It was hard to remember to breathe; I could feel the bullet under my skin and it induced a certain amount of panic. My jaw ached from keeping it clenched so tightly but I knew that if I released it I would only make the situation worse by shouting. My pant leg was soaked in blood and I was internally grateful that I couldn't actual see the viscous liquid against the black of my clothing. It was on my hands, though, and it was on Trowa's hands and on the floor; my shoe left a print sketched in blood upon the metal floor. It didn't go past the doorway; small mercy that that was.

"Duo, pay attention. Can you hear me?" Trowa asked. I focused my attention on him, fighting off the shock that was seizing up my body's functioning. Even though I could hardly feel the pain for the adrenaline coursing through my system, just seeing the blood made it hurt on principle. "Duo?"

I made a noise that didn't sound human as I unclenched my jaw, allowing myself a few deep breaths to calm down before I attempted an answer. "Get it out," I managed at last before my jaw tightened again almost of its own free will. "Get the shot out," I spat through my teeth.

He looked away and I turned my head in time to see Heero rounding the corner, weapon in hand and blood flecked across his front; he'd shot someone at very close range. "Heero!" Trowa called, then turned his attention back to me. "I don't know if I can, Duo. You're already bleeding badly."

Heero cursed as soon as he saw the quantity of blood spilt on the ground. The metal door was being hassled from the outside but they were nowhere near close to getting in; I could hear them shouting about a changed entry code. "Can you walk?"

"Not with a fucking bullet in my leg, jackass," I snapped, eyes closing and nose wrinkling as I attempted to get my leg under me again to stand. It wasn't working even a little bit. Some people may be able to run around with a broken leg like it was nothing but I was not one of them nor did I care to try to be.

He passed his gun to Trowa and took his place beside me, kneeling on one knee. We had known each other long enough, seen each other hurt often enough, to know that I didn't mean any insult I gave when injured. "Shirt in your mouth," he ordered firmly, touching his fingers delicately to the edge of the wound. Blood seeped out and pain stabbed up and down the muscles in my leg.

Panic turned my stomach as I realized that he was actually going to take the bullet out right here. Trowa must have realized it as well because he disappeared down the hall to look for bandages. I stuffed the edge of my jacket into my mouth to keep from biting my own tongue and closed my eyes. Heero placed one hand on my kneecap and leaned on it to stop me in case I thrashed and a moment later my entire world consisted of a red blaze of pain behind my eyes and a nauseating sensation that began at the bullet-wound and spread. I think I screamed, I must have screamed, but I can't remember.

Seconds later I gasped as I heard the clink-clatter of a bullet spiraling across the metal floor and Heero was wrapping my thigh in the yellow-white bandages with which Trowa had returned. His hand was covered in my blood. "What are you going to do about the blood?" Trowa asked from a little way down the hall, where he'd begun to keep lookout.

"We can't leave it," Heero said firmly as he began tearing the bloody part of my pantleg off, starting from the bullet hole. "We don't have time to clean it up, but we can't leave it. We'll just have to… it'll have to be destroyed."

"Blow the whole place?" Trowa questioned softly as Heero and I traded boots; my bloody one for his clean one. He would have to get another clean pair after he'd blown this place.

"Can't be helped," Heero replied as he helped me get painfully to my feet. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off already. "You'll have to take the back exit. It'll spit you out on 24th and Maple Street. There is a hospital two blocks right of the exit; get him in and I'll meet you there."

I almost told him I didn't need a fucking hospital, but I didn't think that particular moment was a good one to start lying. We were taking a risk even thinking of going to such a public place without knowing the state of public affairs anymore, but I knew that I was going to need help if I didn't stop bleeding soon. Already crimson was flowering across the rapid bandaging job Heero had done and I was getting light headed; somewhere in the back of my mind was the creeping fear that they had hit an artery. If the bullet had, I had a very short while before the blood loss would become a serious problem. I would have to make the best of the situation if I wanted to live through it.

"What name?" I asked tiredly, shrugging off his hands. I couldn't very well use any of our 'real' names, especially if we were on the run.

"Goodwin," Heero answered almost instantly. The irony of the obviousness of the name was not lost on me but I kept my mouth shut. "Don't give them a first name." He looked to Trowa then and thought for half a second. "Leave no blood behind, understand? I'll get there as quickly as possible."

Though he looked a little uncomfortable as he agreed, he _did_ agree. Heero stayed still long enough to watch Trowa help me hobble halfway across the lab toward the back entrance before he practically disappeared into the shadows to begin. After that my world narrowed to my ability to stay on my feet and keep moving. The back door was locked and through it there was another locked door, but both were able to be opened with DNA coding. The tunnel that wound away from us was dark; not even footlights broke the shadows of the long, dark passage as we moved down it.

I don't remember the rest of the journey to the hospital. I mean, I remember being conscious and I remember Trowa talking to me and I remember every other step I took hurting but there is a big, black space between the end of the exit tunnel and the shiny, glass doors of the hospital. I remember standing in the entrance with Trowa, staring blearily at the people bustling around me and pulling me into the ER. Trowa was shouting things to people and people were shouting things at him, or maybe they were just talking, it's hard to tell.

When they first separated me from Trowa, I panicked and flailed to get away from whoever was holding onto me. All I could think was that he was supposed to come with me and Heero was supposed to show up to get both of us and that if we weren't together he would be angry. But they drugged me with something before I could properly protest and my muscles stopped listening to me. My knees buckled and I was all but carried the rest of the way.

When they cleaned and stitched the wound, it hurt like a bitch even through the numbing agent they gave me. I was laid out on a table and there was some sort of machine hooked to my finger that made an awful little beeping noise along with my heartbeats. The head doctor worked, diligently ignoring every blurry question I asked with a mouth that didn't quite work. One of the nurses spoke to me through it, holding my hand and I suppose trying to explain what they were doing. I wanted to laugh when she said something about how puzzled they were that I was still awake, but I couldn't find the breath. Apparently their anesthesia wasn't quite strong enough to put me down and out for the duration of my visit.

They must have worked for quite a while but I don't recall much of it. Heero came to my rescue shortly after all of the personnel had vacated my room to address the matter of a massive explosion several blocks down the way. Heero had helped me to my feet, saying that we wouldn't have much time before someone came back to move me so as to make room for newcomers. Despite that it had been patched, my body still protested to allowing my leg to hold too much weight. It was definitely an improvement, however. He helped me change into clothes he must have just picked up from a store; they were still stiff and sterile with the feeling of New. I blearily noticed that he was wearing new shoes.

After that, things were a bit of a blur. Heero moved me to the front waiting room and left me there while he 'obtained' painkillers it was probably very illegal to have while Trowa scoured the place for anything that might have had my blood on it. I heard the fire alarms go off as Heero returned to retrieve me, without Trowa. We were gone before the doctors could even properly check the false information we'd given them.

* * *

/**End Chapter Twenty Six, Inheritance**/

* * *

Notes:

* * *

Iiiii'm sorry for the delay; I went up north for the weekend. So now what's everyone thinking? I know, you think I'm insane for sure. I am. I want so badly to just tell you all how it ends but you are really close. Three more chapters and an epilogue and it's over, yay!

I beg of you… no matter what you read… don't lynch me until you see the "End Inheritance" tag…

* * *


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

* * *

Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing A/C is NOT MINE.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Seven

* * *

**

By the time Trowa met up with us again the colony's lights were dimming for its regularly scheduled false evening. After he'd taken everything that was a danger to leave at the hospital, he'd disappeared, saying he would be back when he'd destroyed the evidence properly. Heero had stayed just long enough to give him directions to someplace I didn't catch, some sort of trash incinerator, and then we were off as well, as fast as we could travel without drawing attention to ourselves.

Now we were stashed away in one of those quiet little study alcoves at the spaceport while Heero and Trowa worked out a plan.

"They've all got to be destroyed," Heero said. The way he said 'destroyed' left a very bitter taste in my mouth. "I understand that the doctors did a lot of very helpful research that had nothing to do with the virus, but I can't risk it. Neither can you."

"You said it yourself, Heero. They've already been in- _someone_ knows already. Destroying the starting point isn't going to stop the racers from getting to the end."

"So what do you want to do? Leave it there for more people to find?" Heero shook his head, a gesture that clearly said how insane he thought Trowa was being. I stifled a smile behind my hand and kept myself from laughing; the drugs the doctors had dosed me with were really strong and they were making me a little loopy. "I can't, Trowa."

Trowa sighed, leaning back in the funny looking, curvy alcove chair. "I got to the other labs first, before anyone had touched anything. I searched. I don't think there's anything there but harmless or helpful research."

"Then they can go last, after we've done the central lab, but they have got to go," Heero replied. "You were just saying you hadn't finished looking into the L1 lab- what if there is something there?"

I think I tried to say something just then because both of them looked at me but either what I said wasn't important… or it wasn't coherent. I'd put money on the latter, despite that I could already feel the effects of the drugs waning. Trowa sighed and turned his attention back to Heero. "Fine. Where do you want to start?"

"The L1 labs- Central and J's," Heero said without hesitation. "If it's true and the other places didn't have information and hadn't been touched, that's where it's all going to be."

Unless they have it with them, I thought, head tilting back so I could stare at the oddly patterned ceiling. The doctors were horrible like that, hiding things and making sure no one but themselves had the right information at the right times.

Trowa shifted uncomfortably next to me. "What about…?"

I didn't have to look to know he'd motioned to me. I would have asked the same question. I was good at taking hits, normally, but there was no way that bullet had missed my femoral artery. I'd lost a lot of blood and the doctors had put a lot of _something_ in me that was messing up my functioning. It was probably meant to knock me on my ass entirely so I would be out cold for whatever they did, but it hadn't been quite strong enough. I wish I'd had the sense to tell them no before they did it, but I'm not sure how well I could have explained that they couldn't give me drugs because I had to go save the world by blowing up colony-based medical and mechanical workspaces.

Sighing, Heero turned to me. I tore my gaze from the ceiling and offered him a weak smile. "I can come along," I said, though I'm sure the words slurred.

He shook his head. "That's not a good idea. Central is going to be surrounded by the media and those hacks looking to discover more about the gundams. If we've got to move fast, you can't."

Indignation rose within me. "I'm not going to sit and be useless," I told him seriously. The world tilted as I sat up to look at him more directly.

"I know," he said before I could continue. "And we don't have the time to let you be useless, either."

"What about the other labs?" Trowa suggested quietly. "They're safer."

Heero made a noise that spoke of how he didn't really approve of that idea, but it was better than nothing and we all knew it. "If I get you a flight, can you destroy the lab in the L3 cluster?" he asked me. "The means are already inside and if Trowa really did check it for information all you'd have to do is set it up and get out."

My world spun a little bit as I nodded. "Yeah, no problem."

He made the sort of frown that said he knew I was off my rocker. "Duo, this is serious. There is a lot we still have to get done but I don't want to see you hurt again. If you think you can handle it then I have to ask you to try but if you get there, and you can't handle it… I need to know that you'll keep yourself safe first."

"If Trowa says it's locked and no one's in it then it's locked and no one's in it. I can watch and make sure no one's out of it before I do anything." I felt a little nauseas and spacey still but I wasn't about to mention it with the way Heero was looking at me. He didn't believe me. "I can do it."

He obviously didn't want to trust me with the job but there was precious little we could do about it right then. There were five labs – six if you counted the lab none of us had gotten into because of the heavy publicity surrounding it – and three of us. If I backed out it would take almost twice as long, which was time we didn't have to spend. Regardless of how up to it I felt, I was going to do it.

"Fine." He rose and shuffled around to the edge of the alcove. "Keep an eye on him," he told Trowa as he exited. "I'll get us moving."

He disappeared and an awkward silence settled between Trowa and me almost immediately. I shifted my gaze back to the ceiling. I hated being alone with him, most of the time. Like Heero he was quiet but it was a different sort of quiet- a worse sort. With Heero I could sometimes follow along with what he was thinking, could see where his mind was going. I could even sometimes start a conversation along his vein of thought and he would talk back. With Trowa, it was like watching a brick wall think. Everything or nothing could have been going on inside his mind and I would never be able to tell the difference.

So instead of speaking up to break the silence, I fidgeted. I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair as best I could and I put my mind to working the drug out of my system. I would have to be thinking past it soon anyway. Across the alcove I could hear Trowa doing the same, relaxing into the silence. The clock on the wall made a tiny, tiny ticking noise as its second hand revolved, the gears grinding smoothly behind the face. One minute, two, three…

A hand touched my shoulder and I jolted awake, groping forward in surprise. Trowa's rare laugh filtered into my sleep-fogged brain and I blinked tiredly at him and Heero as a ticket was pressed into my hand. "Did you already get tickets?"

"Already?" Trowa said quietly, accepting his own ticket. "You've been asleep half an hour."

I stifled a yawn. "Oh…" Looking down, I read my ticket and then looked to Heero. "That's as soon as you could get?"

"That's the next shuttle for L3. It's only an hour."

Trowa was already getting to his feet and shuffling around to the exit of the alcove. "Good luck," he soothed as he passed me. "I'm off in about fifteen minutes." He looked to Heero. "I'll take L4 after this and meet you in the L5 cluster. Try not to get yourself killed."

He winced a little at the jab. "I won't. You either."

"I won't," Trowa agreed as he turned and began to walk away from us. "I have it on good authority that it hurts like hell."

Heero smiled at me in a way that said I wouldn't understand what was just said, but I let it go. "When do you leave?"

"After you," he said simply, taking over the seat Trowa had just vacated.

Giving him a strange look, I relaxed back into my chair again. My head was beginning to clear a little after sleeping but the pain was returning as the painkillers in the drug wore thin. I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out the little bottle of pills Heero had pilfered for me- zedal-codine. It was the strongest painkiller that was readily available in hospitals. They were small pills so I didn't bother with water or anything, though I couldn't help the face I made as I downed one.

"There really weren't any sooner?" I asked when I'd sat back once more.

Watching me shove the little container back into my pocket, he shook his head. "There… no."

He closed his eyes, leaning back in his own chair and it was then that I realized how awful he looked and sounded. He hadn't slept since we'd left the house however many days ago and it was really beginning to show. Sure he could go days without sleep just like the rest of us but that didn't mean it was any better for him than it was for any other person on the planet or off it.

"Okay," I said quietly. I didn't believe him but it wasn't worth arguing about right then. "Do you want me to meet you in the L5 cluster too?"

He shook his head without lifting it. "I'll come get you." The ghost a smile touched his lips. "Then we can go _home_."

I smiled as well, eyes sliding closed. "I wonder how Artemis is doing," I murmured. "She hasn't been by herself this long in quite a while."

Though his shoulder shook a little in a silent chuckle, he didn't voice a response. I think he was hitting that point where he was so tired that he was sleeping and aware at the same time. That was fine, I thought. There wasn't anything to do for a little while and he needed the rest. I'd slept a little on the flight to this colony but I don't think he had. He deserved a bit of a nap. I pried my eyes open long enough to watch him for a few minutes but they slid closed again against my will.

"Duo?" Heero asked quietly, as though he thought I might have fallen asleep. I mumbled something and he took a deep breath. "Sorry. It's nothing."

Forcing my eyes open, I gave him a confused look. He never apologized. "No, what is it?"

Silence. And then: "I love you."

I blinked, sitting up a little straighter. He didn't talk like that. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and his eyes opened but he didn't look at me. My stomach tightened and I felt sick again, though not from the medication this time. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Things might have been different."

"It's okay," I said dully, relaxing a little. The drugs were starting to take effect and it was becoming hard to care. "I suppose if there was something to keep from someone, the fact that they're carrying a world-killing disease…" I trailed off, figuring he got the drift.

Again, silence stretched before his brow wrinkled and he sighed. "I mean… about Mara," he said, barely a whisper. "I knew."

My heart did a strange little flip in my chest in the most painful way at those words, like he'd just gotten a hand in there and squeezed a bit too tightly. "What?"

He winced a little and still refused to look at me. "She… Relena called to tell me she was going to have a child. I told her what I told you about the virus and she didn't-" His voice finally caught on his closed throat. "I told her not to do it. Not to have it."

My own throat closed and I looked away from him, forcing myself to take a few deep breaths. "But she did."

In the back of his throat he made a noise I've never heard him make before, a noise of suppressed hurt. "She shouldn't have… She shouldn't…" he trailed off, eyes closing again, his voice dropping to scratchy exhaustion. "I said such horrible things to her. I told her to kill her own child. Our child."

"You lied to me," I said quietly. "You said you didn't know."

"I didn't," he replied. "I didn't know she'd had her… I- she told me she'd taken care of the problem and I just…"

"You assumed she hadn't had the child," I finished flatly.

"I never looked back, Duo." His lips tightened briefly. "I never wanted to look back. I wanted to forget the past and have it be just you and me. I didn't know…"

I let the tension between us settle and begin to thicken. I didn't even know how to dignify any of that with a response. I'm glad you chose me, but it's too bad Relena had a kid she never told you about, because now the whole world is in danger? I pulled my legs up onto the chair and rested my elbows on their tops, scrubbing at my eyes with the heels of my hands. It was too much.

"They killed her to try and stop this," he said quietly. The fatigue in his voice didn't help me to feel any less tired or delirious. "But they didn't know either. If they had known about Mara…"

I felt like I'd just plummeted a few feet downward at the thought. If the people after us had known about Mara to begin with, we wouldn't have had any warning. They could have killed Relena and taken Mara and they would have come for me. We wouldn't have had to wait for them to break into the workshops or find Relena's will. We wouldn't have had time to run. Relena's fear of being found out had probably saved our lives.

Not that it mattered now. We were on the run, fighting for our lives again. We'd all been shot at, I'd been shot, we'd been separated from the kid and we were miles and miles from Home. I wanted it to be over, done. It would have been so much simpler if Relena hadn't done those things to protect us or if Heero had just killed me when we met. If one link in the chain had been broken before now, none of this would be happening.

But, I thought tiredly to myself, none of our past together would have happened either and that was a worse thought. The idea of not even having the precious few years I'd had with Heero sent a heavy, cold feeling across my skin. To never have kissed him, never have held him… to never see him smile in the grey dawn hours or to watch him learn to adapt to a life where not everything was a mission or a threat… If I died now then my life would have some worth but back then, before all of that? I was a street rat orphan before that. Without the past few years that's all I would have died as.

I shoved the thought out of my mind and sat up in my seat, startling Heero a little as I did so. "Duo?"

"I have to catch my flight," I said dully.

My flight actually wasn't for a while yet but I didn't think I wanted to sit in that alcove with him anymore. I needed to be alone. I needed to put myself into the proper mindset. While Heero had survived several shots in the past, he was made for it. He was made for taking a leap out the window of a skyscraper building without a parachute and surviving. I wasn't. If I took another hit, especially an arterial one, I probably wouldn't make it through it.

For a second it looked like he was going to protest, but he simply laid his head back against the headrest of the chair and sighed. "If it's too much or there are too many, book it out of there. I'll be over there as fast as I can, either way."

"I can handle it," I said, sounding much more confident than I thought I could. "It's just one building. They've probably moved on by now."

"Promise me."

I made an irritated noise in the back of my throat. "I promise that if I cannot handle it, I'll walk away." I gave him a flat look. "Happy?"

"No," he said. "But it will have to do."

We stared at one another for a minute, not quite sure what to say or do. In the end I turned and walked away, leaving silently. It felt strange to just walk away from him like that- like we were back in the war. We never said goodbye or farewell. We never jinxed ourselves like that. It had been years since I'd had a chance to say goodbye and a chance to think that I might never get to say hello again. This time the feeling was heavy in my chest and grew heavier with every step because this time if I didn't come back… it wasn't just my own life lost.

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/**End Chapter Twenty Seven, Inheritance**/

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Notes:

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Oh come on guys I know you can do better than that…Five people reviewing? Speak up a bit, drop me a line, let me know what you're thinking, what you think is going to happen! I don't bite and it really brightens my day to hear from you guys, even if it's a simple 'I'm still reading.' I LOVE hearing speculation.

A public thank you to Keiichi Sei and Saramoon for reading this before I posted and fixing a few things with me. Much appreciated!

CrimsonAnjel is coming to visit me for a week in real life so I dunno when the next chapter will be posted and… and writing the epilogue is like pulling teeth. I CAN'T post the last two chapters until that epilogue is done so yeah. I hope it will be soon. Until then!

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	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

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Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing A/C is NOT MINE.

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**Chapter Twenty Eight

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**

The place was deserted by the time I reached it. The doors were unlocked but it was clear that they hadn't been left unlocked by Trowa; the keypad tile (and in fact the rest of the keypad) was missing, replaced by a scorched hole in the wall. I dawdled across the street, watching down the alley from the deli window across the street but there was not a breath of movement. No one came in or out and I didn't catch sight of anyone that stayed in one place for longer than a few minutes.

Eventually I meandered my way over and investigated, but there was no way I was getting the doors open. I picked and pried and shocked myself twice before I took a step back from the situation. Why would they have blasted the keypad? They were designed to lock irreversibly if the keypad was simply destroyed; most ship-bound mechanisms were like that. Frustrated, I tugged at the bare ends of the wiring, watching the sparks jump as nothing really productive happened.

My skin jumped and I just barely kept myself from shouting in surprise when someone pounded on the door from the interior. "Joe, that you?" The voice was low and muffled to near incoherency.

Indecision seized my insides. Should I answer affirmatively and risk the chance of them having a way to open the doors? What would they do if I answered negatively? How had they known I was there and, more importantly, would they know if I just walked away now?

"I can't get in," I answered gruffly, soft enough that my voice would be muffled past recognition. I hoped. My hand drifted to settle on my gun; they obviously couldn't see me if they had to ask who I was.

"That's because you're an idiot," the voice responded. "You've got to use the 24th street entrance; this one blew itself earlier today when Marcus was mucking around on the computers. If you'd gotten back on time today you might not have missed it."

"What else have I missed?" It was a risky question and not one that was likely to get answered, but it was worth a shot. Information, should he choose to give it to me, could save my life later. I knew that all too well.

"The L2 boys caught them all together but they scattered. Smith radioed yesterday to say they were following one of them, but we haven't heard from any of them since. You catch wind of the explosions over that way?"

"No," I said, still keeping quiet. "Anyone hurt?"

"Don't know. Bossman said he's moving us out when you get back, so get your ass inside. I'll let them know you're here."

"Okay," I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

Shit. If he went in and told everyone that 'Joe' was here and then Joe didn't show up at the 24th street entrance, they were going to know something was fishy. Very, very fishy. I took myself out of that alley as fast as possible and all but ran down the street in the opposite direction of 24th. All of the colonies had the same basic setup, so everyone would be able to get around no matter which colony they were visiting.

My first thought was to visit the spaceport, but it was late at fake night and the number of shuttles would be few. If that group was moving out then the spaceport would be where they were headed and if they were not moving out then the spaceport would be the first place they headed to surround to stop me. I scratched the idea and headed for the 'inner city' area of the colony instead. It was a quiet and unassuming place as well as being nowhere near anyplace they would reckon I'd want to be. Sure, I would be safe until dawn, but then people would start showing up for work.

It's strange, how the small things, the things that seem so insignificant, are the things that make a difference. As I trailed along the side of an eight foot fence, walking around it so as to get into the city, a part of me read the sign to the building. A part of me took note of the fact that it was an incinerator like the one where Trowa had dumped the bloody remains of my hospital visit. It was a newer building than the ones around it, having been built less than three years ago, but it was an eerie place. It was abandoned as only a new building could be; like everyone had vanished. The place looked like it should have been in use, although I knew that wasn't the case in the least.

A few years back, someone had decided to put to use the idea of flash-incineration. A flash like that on a camera but a million times brighter and harsher- harsh enough to practically vaporize anything put in close proximity. It was a great idea; the trash from the entire colony could be turned to particles of dust that was easy to fan out and let the ventilation of the colony take care of afterwards. They had decommissioned every last one of them two years ago, when people began to get sick because the fumes did not dissipate fast enough.

Skirting around the last edge of the Roys Co. building, I continued into the heart of the city. I let myself into one of the nicer looking office buildings, courtesy of a few lock-picks and a good bit of almost forgotten talent. As soon as I was safely inside and up a few flights of stairs, I pulled out my cell phone and rang Heero. The phone buzzed obnoxiously, telling me that my connection was crap. I'd expected as much, with the building's make and the amount of electrical equipment I'd see on the few floors I'd passed. It didn't really matter; I wouldn't need one for long.

"How'd it go?" Heero asked quietly as soon as the noise cut. Apparently I didn't merit a proper hello at that moment, which said to me that he was not in the safest of areas.

"They blast sealed the front door and were guarding the back too well for me to assess the interior," I said quietly as well. "They surrounded the spaceport, so you might not want to head over any time soon."

"It'll be a while, anyhow. They didn't see you?"

"No," I said truthfully. "They'll leave soon, unless they figure out I'm here. Either way they'll control it for a while."

"Okay. Find a safe place, stay put, and don't call back. I'll call when I can."

"Good luck." I hung up the phone before I heard his response.

I hated hanging up on Heero. It was a rare enough occasion to get him on the phone that it just felt wrong, despite that I knew it was better for both of us. I got up off the staircase landing I had sat down on and pushed through the doors to the fifth floor. The security lights were dim and grey, just barely enough light to see where I was walking and no security system stirred. Empty buildings, ones that were clearly full of life normally, always creeped me out a bit. No matter what time of day or night is was, I always felt like everyone had just vanished without a trace in the middle of what they were doing and a part of me always suggested that it could happen to me, too, if I stayed.

Plunking down in one of the swiveling office chairs, I flicked on the closest computer and relished in the sounds it made as it booted to life. Any sound to ward off the silence. May as well see if there was a live news feed while I was grounded as well, I thought. Maybe I could learn something worthwhile. I leaned back in the chair and it tilted back obligingly, just enough to be comfortable but not enough to feel like it might tip. The monitor dimmed in front of me and a box flickered into view asking for a username and password. I must have chosen the right computer because its owner was properly lazy enough to leave both saved.

I let it continue and took a glance out the huge window that made up most of the wall to my left. There was a gap between the buildings across the street right about where I was sitting and through it I could see the rest of the colony floor curving away from me. There were a few of the taller office buildings which gave way to shorter, stouter buildings like that fenced in incineration building I'd passed on the way. The city pattered out after about a mile and stretched into a lazy looking suburb. The haze from the mist that fell nightly to maintain the limited plant-life obscured must past the first couple rows of houses, but it was still comforting to see.

It reminded me of Home.

My eyelids drooped as I gently rocked the office chair, watching the flicker of the street lamps against the mist of night. The suburbs looked so peaceful from here I could almost imagine I was back on Earth, watching over our street. Sure, I couldn't see the stars but then, I was _in_ the stars. Even so, even knowing those obvious differences, the two places weren't all that different. The Earth was humanity's starting line and the colonies were more an extension of the prosperity of Earth's people than they were a separate world. I had lived in both places and felt that either could have been a home. Both _were_, in a sense. Earth became a home more every day I lived there, despite that I had been born and raised in the L2 cluster.

My breath caught on the memory of my first home. I thought of all the people I had left behind in my seemingly short time there. I thought of Father Maxwell and Sister Helen at the church and the way they both had taught me so many lessons about life. They taught me to forgive those that hurt me. They taught me to handle the loss of friends and family to the war. They left me, in the end, the way Solo had. The war killed them like it killed Solo. It had killed them like it was preparing to do now, even after the fighting had stopped.

I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair, swallowing thickly. The plague that had swept my home colony was by far the worst act of destruction I had seen in the war. There were thousands of people on that colony, thousands of civilians, of families and friends. All of them were sacrificed for the sake of perfecting the coding that now rode beneath my skin, the virus that ran in my blood. Solo, my best friend, my co-conspirator, my mentor… dying in my arms because the war had gotten a little too bloodthirsty.

It was starting again.

The computer bleeped, drawing me from my heavy thoughts. I shook my head to clear it and pulled up the only browser in the system tray. I clicked my way into a few Earth-based news sites and accessed their live feeds. They were discussing trivial things; trivial things that lasted for over half an hour without interruption. I sighed. Either they hadn't heard about the trouble we'd been causing or they were doing a damn fine job covering it up for the citizens of Earth. I would have placed money on the former.

Though I watched for a little longer, nothing of interest came onscreen. Bored and antsy, I switched to a new window and pulled up the two colony-based news sites I knew. Both of them were relating the same story; an underground maintenance facility near a hospital had been attacked by an unknown terrorist group whom they believed to be related to Relena's assassination. Several people near the blast site had lost their lives and many more were injured when the shock wave shattered storefront glass or caused accidents. Flashes of the gaping hole in the colony's wall-floor peppered the reports on both stations.

Well, no one ever said Heero wasn't thorough.

While one of the news stations continued reporting on the explosion, the other switched to a broadcast about a shootout that had happened at a nearby park, involving what appeared to be civilians. Someone had turned over a tape to the station, containing footage of a firefight between the men that had caught us at the park, and Heero who was with Wu Fei still. They had gotten themselves holed up in an alleyway and were taking pot shots at their attackers. I smiled. Heero was definitely a better shot than anyone he was aiming for.

I would have stayed to watch the broadcasts until Heero called, but my leg began to bother me again and I forced myself to my feet. Both broadcasts were still playing, a tiny, metallic sound to break the fearsome silence of the office building. I needed something to stay awake and it wouldn't hurt to see if there was somewhere I might be able to make a pot of coffee.

There was a hallway back by the stairwell and sure enough when I walked to the end of it a breakroom opened and spread over quite a lot of space. The employees of this building seemed to very much appreciate their breaks. I edged around the room to the sink area and pawed my way through a basket containing what seemed like a million little packets of coffee grounds. French Vanilla, caramel crème, black roast… I made a face at all the flavors until I happened upon a single package of hazelnut. I liked hazelnut. Maybe not in coffee, but I couldn't imagine it being worse than caramel.

It took a while for the water to warm and the little black and glass maker to brew enough for even one cup. I spent the wait rummaging through their cupboards to find a spoon, some sugar and a couple of little creamer packages. It was a mindless task, something to keep my mind off the news reports; something to distract me from the fact that once again we had become killers for the sake of stopping a war.

When the coffee was done I made myself a cup and left the machine on in case I wanted another. Fishing around in my pocket, I pulled out the zedal-codine and took another one with my first, scalding sip of coffee. The news reports chattered in tinny voices as I reentered the office area and moved myself back to the window. I laid my head against the smooth glass and peered out over the city once more.

I sighed, wondering if the people down there, probably asleep in their nice warm beds, even knew what was going on at the moment. Did they know what sort of danger they were in? Did they know how quickly they would die if any of us took one wrong step? Somehow I doubted it. Somehow I doubted that they could see past the peace they were enjoying to see the war brewing on the horizon.

Good, I told myself grimly. I hope they never have to see it.

I remember so clearly the few minutes I was standing there at that window. I remember the buzz of the computer, the whir of the fans in the air conditioning ducts; even the rumble of the generators so far, far below in the basement. I remember how good that coffee seemed to taste and how much my leg was really bothering me now that the drugs were thinning. I remember the way my thoughts crawled over the fact that there could very well be another war coming and thinking that if there was just a way to stop it before it could begin… if there was just one way to end it so that this would never be a problem.

I remember thinking "If only I could disappear".

I remember the way my eyes fell upon the incineration building then.

I remember the way my heart stopped.

I _could_ disappear completely.

I straightened a bit, pulling my forehead away from where it had started to stick to the glass. Of course I could disappear. Heero had said I couldn't die or that would be the end of it in a very bad way. Obviously I couldn't live or we'd be in the same sort of danger as we'd been for days now. But if I disappeared I wouldn't be dead or alive, I would be gone. The incinerators left behind nothing but dust and gasses. They-

But I stopped myself.

Could I really just die? Could I abandon everything I had come to love and cherish? If I disappeared, what would happen to Heero and Artemis and Mara? What about the others? Heero might understand sacrifice for the greater good, and Trowa might as well but Quatre wouldn't. Hilde wouldn't.

I swallowed thickly. No, I thought. No, it had to be done. Not quite yet, I knew as I took a seat back at the computer. There were records to delete and an existence to erase, but once I had disappeared from paper… once I had gotten that far… disappearing in the flesh was only half a block away from being a possibility.

I closed the news broadcasts in the middle of speculation about how many people would be brought to harm, should another war start, and began the process of getting into a few systems I had no right entering. It would take a while but then, I had nothing better to do all night. The methods were fuzzy at first, and the pathways had changed from the last time I had explored the insides of other people's computers, but it was a lot like riding a bike; once you've learned, you never forget. It became automatic- seek network, hunt files, destroy all traces, repeat.

When my phone rang, almost six hours later, I almost had a heart attack. The room had become entirely silent save for the rapping of my fingers against the keys and that had become only background static to my ears. I pulled my cell from my pocket and snapped it open like it was going to bite. The noise cut out instantly. "Heero?"

"I'm on my way over," he said, again not bothering with a greeting. I sighed.

"Don't," I told him quietly. "They're not cleared from the spaceport yet. You'll just be caught."

"It's got to be done." He spoke with such finality that I knew I wasn't going to convince him to stay away; the best I would manage was to be faster than him.

"I might have a better plan," I said solemnly.

"Let's hear it."

"There's… you said there are only three parts to the virus, right?" I clambered to my feet, leaving the computer behind as I wandered back to the window.

"Yes, why?"

"Can it be made with only two parts? If someone happened to get hold of yours and mine but not Mara's part, could they still make the virus? Or your part and Mara's?"

He scoffed. "No. You definitely need all three parts. Two parts won't give you anything; otherwise Mara would be a threat in a whole new way."

"There's no other way to produce it though, is there? Like if someone got two parts, could they create the third? Aren't there records somewhere?" The city stretched out beneath me once more; dawn was coming.

There was a long pause on the other end and I could almost see him going through the lists of possibilities. Finally he answered, albeit a little slowly- a little cautiously. "No. If I recall correctly, and I know I do, the doctors destroyed the method of creation and left only the method of cultivation. Anyone can make the virus if they have the parts but no one besides those five have the ability to recreate it from scratch."

"But someone else could figure it out?" I had to be sure before I did this. If there was any way for the virus to be made from two parts, then what I thought I could do would be useless.

"No; not any more so than if they were creating it for the first time, new. It would be like painting an entire picture when you only have half to go from; what's in the lost part can't be made again." It sounded like he was getting a little irritated with me.

"You can't make a whole from the parts," I clarified. That was good. That meant I was right. "Okay. And you and Mara each have the first part, right?"

"Yes…" he said, slower now. The suspicion was starting to creep into his voice.

"And… and Mara and Milliardo both have the second part, right?"

"Duo…"

I plowed onward before he could interrupt. "But I'm the only one with the third part, aren't I." It wasn't a question and he knew it. "So… if I'm gone, that negates the problem. The whole situation is null if they don't have my part, right?"

"Theoretically, but you can't do that," he said levelly. "Don't think you can just go off and die and save everyone, Duo. If anything of you remains they can still use it, right down to a drop of blood."

I ran my eyes over the top of the fenced-in building I stood observing- Roys Incineration Company. I sighed and dropped my gaze to the office floor again. "But if I could disappear entirely it would work, right?"

"You can't."

"But if I could?" I insisted.

He made an irritated noise on the other end. "If you could disappear entirely, which you can't, then it would probably be over, yes."

"There isn't another way to make the virus?" I asked hesitantly.

"Not that I know of," he replied, defeated. "Why?"

"I _can_ disappear completely," I said quietly. "You remember a few years back when they built those flash incinerators; the ones that caused that big ruckus because of the dust and fumes?"

There was a silence on the other end that was deeper and more horrified than any silence I have ever experienced in my life. If I hadn't known better I would have thought my phone had dropped the call. I knew where his mind was; I knew the scenarios he was imagining. He made a strangled noise and my heart twisted. "Don't you fucking dare," he choked out at last.

"I love you, Heero," I said quietly. "I really do. That's why I have to do this."

It took every bit of willpower I had to pull the phone away from my ear and close it. The tinny sound of Heero's upset disappeared, leaving me in a silence that was nothing short of deafening. I knew what I had to do and while I wasn't quite sure of how I had to do it… I had a pretty good idea. My heartbeat fluttered against my skin, amplifying the sickening feeling of fear that had begun to well up within me. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to give up on everything in my life, not after coming so far. Not when I had come so close to the life I wanted, the people I loved.

_We are _not _normal citizens now, Duo. We were _never _normal anything and we never will be._

"I know," I whispered to the past, to Heero's memory. I wanted normal, or I thought I did, but I knew it wasn't something suited to someone like me. Heero and I, the others… we had to be a certain sort of different so that everyone else could be normal. We had to lose so others wouldn't.

But that didn't mean we had to like it.

It didn't mean it didn't hurt.

With a heavy heart, I ignored the way my cell phone jangled beside me and opened a new browser window. There was still a lot to be done before I could disappear, but first… there was something more important. My mail server's page made a pleasantly welcoming sound as I clicked to compose a new letter. I set the delivery time for a few weeks ahead and, taking a deep breath, I splayed my fingers over the keyboard to begin to write.

_Dear Heero,_

_By the time you read this, I will be gone…

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_

/**End Chapter Twenty Eight, Inheritance**/

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Notes:

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Oh no? Ohhhh stay tuned because there is only one chapter and the epilogue left. Reviews are very welcome, especially those which contain speculations…

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	30. Chapter Twenty Nine

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Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing A/C is NOT MINE.

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**Chapter Twenty Nine - Interlude: The Video

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**

The screen flickers and changes; televisions become static, computer screens go blank, video phones ring out a perfect dial tone… and then they clear. Replacing the evening news and sitcoms, the web pages and the phone calls is a new image. A young man stands stoically on screen, dressed in loose black clothing, a stiff white shirt collar made to look like a priest's circles his neck. He stares at the camera with deep blue eyes, almost violet in their intensity, while fiddling with the end of a long, hassled looking braid. He seems on edge and tired by the way he holds himself and it is clear even to the most casual of viewers that this man is no ordinary man.

Sounds crackles for a second and then resolves into words.

"-name is Duo Maxwell. I need your attention, please, because what I am about to say concerns you. All of you; all of humanity."

The man pauses there, as though considering what to say next. By now he has the attention of the whole world- both Earth and the colonies that so peacefully revolve around it.

"About five years ago a war that lasted longer than my life at the time was brought to an end. Four years ago someone attempted to restart the war, to gain control of all humanity via _force_. Now someone is trying to restart the war by bringing about the dawn of a virus that would mean the downfall of humanity. The virus was initially created toward the beginning of the war and perhaps there are still those that remember the plague that swept the L2 colony so many years ago. This is the _same virus_, but more efficient, less stoppable. Far less stoppable."

"The genetic code for the virus was split into three parts and placed within three unknowing subjects. The genetic code for the anti-virus, the only thing that can stop the virus from killing everyone, everywhere, was similarly split into two parts and hidden within two other unknowing subjects."

Again he stops and clenches his jaw, as if he does not want to continue speaking. A phone begins to ring in the background but he ignores it. At last he sighs.

"The person carrying the first section of the anti-virus is dead; there is no anti-virus now. I carry within me one vital section of the virus. It was placed within me without my knowledge or consent and its existence was only recently revealed to me. Without what I carry, the virus cannot be made. I had thought I could live with that knowledge, with that danger, since the war had ended. Yet even if I could seclude myself, certain parties have made it clear that I will never be safe. As long as I live, my existence puts the entire world in danger. I cannot allow that."

He stops and moves to the side, motioning now to the room behind him. The walls and floors are metal and at the edge of the screen lays a pair of thick metal doors. A locking mechanism runs from the top of the doors to the bottom, making it obvious that he stands in a very high security place. Beside the doors is a control panel, above which a sign reads "Roys Co. Incineration". When he speaks, drawing attention back to himself, it is with apprehension and a tone that makes his fear clear.

"I speak now to the people who have been after us the last couple of days. _Leave them alone._ You know who I'm talking about. Behind me are the blast doors to the flash incinerator on L3-X2954. It was decommissioned two years ago, but I've… _recommissioned_ it for a very special purpose. When I am done with this recording, I'm going to turn around and step inside of it and if everything goes well, that will be the last you ever see of me. I want to make it very clear to you that your quest to create the virus has come to an end. Without me, the virus _cannot_ be made. The records for its creation were destroyed years ago and without a viable sample, it's a useless effort. My friends are useless to you without me."

Stopping again, he chews his bottom lip in indecision, eyes dropping to the floor. Almost a minute passes before he takes a deep breath and looks back to the camera. The phone begins to ring again and once again it is ignored, this time not completely. He wipes at his eyes with the heel of his hand and when he speaks his voice is rough with the way his throat has tightened.

"Heero, I know that's you calling. I know you're on your way here to stop me. You probably won't make it. I'm sorry. You're going to be the first one to see this, and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry I couldn't fix this any other way. Can you do me a favor? Can you please give this tape to the world? Let them know what happened, let them know what they've escaped. Let them know that I'm sorry for putting them in danger in the first place and that I will make things right shortly. Give it to who-ever you have to give it to so that this ends; so that you are safe."

He swallows and turns to look at the doors, falling silent. They open to a silvery interior and the lights that create the incinerating blast can be seen through the glass wall of the far side. The camera just barely sees that far. He turns back to the camera and offers a smile full of tears.

"Take care of yourself, Heero. Take care of the others. You may not believe in the afterlife, but I do. I know I'll see you again some day, love. I'm sorry it had to go this way. I love you."

An awkward silence falls as his words echo in the empty space where he stands. He fidgets in place, as if pondering whether there is anything else he wishes to say before he finishes recording. There is nothing, though, and he turns from the camera. His heavy, booted steps, quiet though they are, can be heard by the camera's sensitive microphone. He moves to the control panel and it is almost a full minute before he moves away from it again.

As he steps to the double blast doors, there is a noise from off camera- a door being slammed and a man shouting something the camera doesn't catch. Duo freezes and looks over as another man dashes onto screen. The newcomer grabs him by the collar of his black shirt and slams him roughly against the doorframe.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the newcomer practically shouts. It is clear he's furious but at the same time there is fear and relief in his voice.

Duo's resolve seems to crack the slightest bit as he turns his face from the newcomer's and drops his eyes. His lips move as he mumbles something, but the camera does not catch his words. He is shaken once by the man who has all but attacked him and he grabs the other's wrists. "You know it does!" Duo snaps, loudly enough this time to be heard by their unseen audience. "I don't want to run anymore and I'm not going to give up and let them kill everyone we worked so fucking hard to save!" The spite and bitterness in his words is thick. "Or have you forgotten all that?"

"We will find. Another. Way." The words are bitten through clenched teeth.

"There _is_ no other way, Heero!" Duo argues forcefully. His voice drops, gentles on his next statement. "No safe way… It's just easier like this."

"Easier for who?" Heero snaps, his voice roughing on his closed throat. His aggressive stance drops and he moves forward until their foreheads touch. His words are so soft the camera cannot catch them all. "-ease –on't --- this…."

Those watching can see when Duo whispers "I'm sorry" but the words are not audible. "I have to. You know that."

Silence as they stand there, breathing and fighting the inevitable as it draws closer. Neither seems to want to move first.

"There is a recording in the security room, from the camera over there. When I…" Duo trailed off, swallowing thickly. "You need to watch it. Okay?" No response. "Please, Heero. Fighting everyone _else_ is difficult enough. I don't need you fighting me too."

"Fine." It is clearly not fine in the young man's opinion, but he draws away from the other boy. The look he gives then is one to break hearts. "You're really going to just… you can't just…" He takes a breath and seems to get hold of himself. The angry expression melts into one of grief as he realizes the other boy is really about to disappear forever. "Okay," he whispers at last.

Duo's body tightens visibly at the word and he takes a step forward to close the distance the other boy just put between them. "Lock the doors behind me," he says, loud but unsteadily. The camera catches a noise of disagreement as Duo speaks. "Then get the recording and leave. Don't stay and don't look back, okay?"

A pained expression crosses the faces of both boys before Duo moves to close the small gap between them, enveloping the other in an embrace. Heero reciprocates in a way that only lovers saying goodbye forever can, holding him as if he might never release him. It is a bare moment before they stand apart again, and the camera catches glints of liquid in both pairs of eyes.

"I'm sorry," Duo says sadly, scrubbing at his eyes with the heel of his hand. "I really am. I love you. Never forget that."

"I love you too, Duo."

Duo offers a smile that is half a frown before turning away from Heero once more. He moves past the blast doors and into the incineration area. Heero trails after him slowly, almost to the point of joining him within, before laying hands on the edges of the doors. The two stare at one another as the machine whirs to life like an awakening giant, before Duo can just barely be heard saying "it's on a timer."

As though resigning his own self to death, Heero draws back and closes the blast doors. The ceiling-to-floor door locks whir and crank loudly as they tighten to keep the doors shut through anything. He does not leave or move from where he stands.

A moment later there is a crack like the sound of a giant camera taking a picture. The sound causes Heero's entire body to flinch and he drops to his knees on the floor, shaking enough that even the camera can pick up on it. All throughout the facility the fans begin to rotate to blow out the dust and fumes from the newly finished cycle. The muffled grinding noise nearly drowns Heero's shout but it cannot mask the fist he slams so harshly against the doors.

It does not hide the blood-stain he leaves behind on the metal.

Ten minutes pass before the red lights above the blast doors turn green again, signaling that it is safe to open them. It is longer still before Heero clambers to his feet and lays bloody hands on the locks. They hiss in the newfound silence, but the doors themselves make no noise as they open.

Inside, there is no trace of Duo Maxwell.

Heero stands for a moment before turning and looking straight into the camera. His eyes are red around the edges and there are streaks of wet on his face. He removes his hands from the locks, leaving bloody handprints, and disappears off the camera. A few moments later the screen turns to static as somewhere in the facility's security room the recording was ejected from its recorder, ready for the sacrifice it contained to be given to the world.

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/**End Interlude, Inheritance**/

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Notes:

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:brick'd to death: No seriously, stay tuned for the epilogue. And let me know what you are thinking now!

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	31. Epilogue

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Author: Sparkle Itamashii 

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing A/C is NOT MINE.

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**Epilogue

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**

That was the end of it. I'd retrieved the security video and shown it to the entire world. I accessed every available network so that no one, anywhere, would not know what had happened. I put it on television, both in homes and in offices, on the sides of buildings and in cars. I'd put it on computers as people were doing other things and on vid-screens as people were making phone calls. Anything electrical that could create an image was usurped for half an hour while the video aired and told the world how it had been saved by one man's sacrifice.

They spoke of it for weeks afterwards.

An investigation was made, to prove the validity of the video. The incineration building was inspected to high heaven but there was no tampering, no evidence that Duo had done anything other than exactly what he had said he'd done. Afterwards, Trowa dropped out of contact with everyone for a while and the laboratory workshops mysteriously disappeared into violent explosions during his absence.

When he returned, he never spoke of it and I never asked.

I didn't care.

I spent half a year not knowing what to do with myself. I found myself awake in the middle of the night waiting for him to come back to bed, or caught myself cooking for more than one. Artemis knew he was gone; she wandered the house aimlessly, poking her nose into every room before returning to me as if to ask why I was the only one left. I didn't have a way to explain to her that her 'dad' wasn't coming back. I didn't even want to admit it to myself.

Eventually I had gotten the courage to call the number Milliardo had given me. I wasn't ready to handle having a child back in the house, but I couldn't live alone. Not anymore, not since I'd met Duo. It was too quiet, too lonely without _someone_ there and having Mara back under my care would at least give me something to do.

My call only reached an answering service which told me I would be directed to the proper affiliate, thank you, have a good day! It hadn't taken me long to look up the service and find the number, or the person to which it was attached. Unfortunately it didn't redirect the call to a new number; the person who rented the service had to pick up the messages.

Of course, it wasn't very hard to find the area where he had most recently checked the messages and after that it was only another hour of data gathering, a shuttle ticket, and a three block walk to get her from him. I had to smile when I arrived, though. Despite how it may have seemed I was a step ahead of him, he had her packed and waiting for me when I got there. He'd known I was coming because he'd known what I would do. He'd left a trail only I would care or know to follow.

"You're welcome," he'd said before I could thank him.

"Thank you," I'd told him gently as I hoisted her into my arms.

He only smiled. "You're welcome for that too."

I returned his smile at the subtle invitation to come back and visit now that I knew where he was. Later, I knew, I might take him up on it but for then I left after bidding farewell to him and Noin. Mara had waved to them and then wrapped her arms around my neck, burrowing her nose in the crook of it. She'd been asleep before I even reached the shuttle.

At first, having her back in the house was a constant, painful reminder of the fact that Duo was not there. I had to put her in one of the daycares I had checked into when she first came to live with us and it was hard to leave her behind every day. She should have been home with me or with Duo. He should have been there, doing all of it with me, experiencing every new problem, every new joy with me.

Instead I found myself on my own, just like I had begun life.

I can't say it was entirely terrible having her around the house. She had the brightest smile and a softness reminiscent of her mother in her actions. While she talked a good deal more than Relena ever had, I could see that her stories were growing out of the incoherent babble stage and beginning to become entertaining. Slowly she was learning when to speak and when to give a silent, knowing stare that said she could wait until she got what she wanted.

For her part, Artemis adored her thoroughly, abandoning sleeping at the foot of my bed for sleeping almost on top of her in hers. Mara didn't seem to mind in the least; I found her comfortably buried into Artemis' fluffy side most mornings. They palled around in the backyard and romped together in the park on the nicer of the days. The fall brought so many tracked-in leaves from the two of them that I thought I may as well give up trying to clean them out.

She had less time once fall ended, though. I enrolled her in a preschool that kept her occupied for several hours after I came back from work. She enjoyed it there, although she was much farther along than many of the other kids. Sometimes I left work and went straight over there so I could watch her playing with her friends. I smiled most often when I was there, watching her make up games and run the playground as though she'd been appointed leader.

But fall faded into winter eventually and winter was the hardest time of the year for me. I had gotten so used to celebrating "The Holidays" with Duo, upon his insistence. It would have been the first Christmas since I'd met him that I hadn't spent with him. I cleaned the house and bought a little Christmas tree that shed little green needles all over the carpet. I bought some presents for Mara and wrapped them as best as I could for having never really done it previously. I didn't figure it would outlast her prying fingers very long anyhow.

It wasn't until Quatre called and wanted to know if Mara and I wanted to come for Christmas Eve dinner that I found the strength to close myself in my room and cry.

It was the first and only time I'd done so since the night I received his last words in my little electronic mailbox.

The letter arrived exactly three weeks after that horrible night. It was addressed to me in a simple font and it came without tear streak or warning. At first I thought he must be alive and my heart thrummed with the adrenaline of the realization. It wasn't until I had read actually laid eyes to the first line that I recognized the signature of a time-delayed email. It wasn't until my eyes were so blurred with tears and my throat so tight I couldn't breathe that I pushed myself away from the computer without finishing reading and curled up on the bed, on his side of the bed, as close to him as I would ever get again.

I never read the end of the letter. I couldn't. It's still there, waiting.

Things were a little easier once winter began to wane and the cold disappeared. It was easier to go outside and find something to do after work when the sun was shining and the green of Earth was beginning to bloom once more. Mara got out of 'school' for the summer, to prepare for her first year of kindergarten. I wouldn't really have known much about what to do with her in so far as school if Quatre hadn't breached the topic.

I wouldn't have known a lot of things if Quatre hadn't been around to help. I know I would have failed to pull everything together like I did. In the time following Duo's death, he was so careful not to let me close myself off, as was my first inclination. He called as often as his work would allow him to have spare time and made sure I met up with someone else if he was unable to see me at least a couple times a month.

That was part of why he was over now. The art faire had come back to town for the week and its arrival marked the one year anniversary I never thought I would have to celebrate; or more accurately, dread.

It seemed so…

It was hard to imagine that it had been a whole year already.

The world seemed to have become too normal too quickly this time.

I sighed, looking down to where he played so gaily with Mara on the floor. Artemis was locked in the backyard while Quatre was inside, so that she wouldn't get in his way. She was very protective of Mara and it sometimes made Quatre nervous. Mara was halfway kneeling on him now with both hands on his shoulders and a story on her lips about how we had already been to the faire once already and she would show him everything there so he wouldn't get lost. It was simple. It was clean and safe and… _normal_.

I guess not everything had gone back to normal, though. Trowa still disappeared and Wu Fei hadn't been in contact for months; we hadn't spoken since I saw him on Christmas Eve at Quatre's house. I had learned to watch the news for myself, seeing as Duo wasn't around to give me the important details. From the reports I saw now and again, it seemed as though Trowa and Wu Fei were picking up where Duo left off; they were cleaning up what was left of the mess. Or perhaps, as I sometimes thought as I watched those reports, they were making a bigger one as they tied off each loose end.

Across the colonies people were being killed. Anyone associated with the doctors too closely was being picked off, slowly but surely. Anyone that might have possibly known more than they should have about the virus - anyone that could have later been dangerous - was being murdered. At first I had thought it was a new faction, someone who didn't believe the video contained truth. Who-ever it was, they were being thorough to the point of being meticulously fearsome. Already people, important people, people close to me had died.

Howard. Pagan. Mrs. Darlian.

Darlian had come as a shock to everyone, even myself. I hadn't known that she had any sort of connection to the virus or the antidote. I hadn't been aware that she had been any more involved than unwittingly adopting the last surviving Peacecraft female. Apparently she had known access codes to the original labs and while Duo and I were tramping about in the colonies, she had handed them over to the appropriate parties to allow them to get into the facility. She had wanted to aid the investigation that was underway for her adopted daughter's untimely death, and now she was dead as well for her troubles.

But the killing hadn't stopped there.

Last weekend the doctors had turned up dead, slaughtered inside a hotel room rented out to an alias that didn't exist and wasn't able to be traced. Whoever was doing it, whoever had done that to them, was good. Very good. Better, even, than the guy who had killed Relena. Only a handful of people had ever been able to slip through my fingers while I was tracking them. Only the dangerous ones. Duo. Trowa. Noin. Milliardo, for a time.

When the killings first began, before anyone I'd known had died, I'd asked Trowa only once if he thought we ought to be worried. It seemed like we were awfully connected to not be concerned. I'd nearly asked if he was behind them, but I found I didn't want to know. If it was him it was something awful, something I didn't want to think about a friend having done. We didn't speak of the war and we wouldn't speak of this. He only assured me we were both quite safe and refused to say more.

I couldn't imagine being 'safe' after seeing the crime scene photos from the doctors' room. They hadn't just been killed, they had been maliciously murdered. It was two days before anyone found their bodies and the pictures were splashed across every television news screen on the planet and the colonies. I felt sick looking at them even at such a distance. Quatre had been on the line with me before the first of the broadcasts was finished airing, asking me if I had heard.

I'd asked, "How could he do this?"

"Trowa was with me," was the whisper of a response. "He was here."

It might have been Wu Fei, I'd told myself in the ensuing silence.

I didn't believe it.

The next day I had gone to the crime scene in the middle of the night, when the last of the investigators had given in to exhaustion and finally gone home. I'd let myself into the hotel room and investigated a little more thoroughly. They had left the room fairly intact, a strip of caution tape across the doorway to stop anyone from destroying evidence. Though I searched for as long as I could without being caught, I found nothing that indicated it was anyone I knew. No tags had been left behind, no marks on anything that would have been left by Wu Fei or Trowa or anyone.

The entire rest of my week had been caught up in trying to hunt down the perpetrator, in case they decided to get serious. In case they decided to come for me. In case they came for Mara. I'd spent hours upon hours of coffee on the computer, picking at records and accessing places my computer had no business being. My efforts turned up nothing. At all. The doctors' killer or killers had vanished so thoroughly I felt like a child trying to chase them.

That didn't mean I was surrendering. I knew that there were limits to what my home computer could do. I didn't have the network access at the house that I would have if I gained access to a better mainframe computer. I needed out of the house as soon as possible, to hunt whoever this was that would surely be hunting us. There was no way I would let Duo's sacrifice go to waste. He had wanted us to live and be safe and I was going to do just that.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a sitter - one I could trust leaving Mara with thorugh this - until Friday, when Quatre had time set aside for the faire. He'd come to take Mara until I returned from my hunt for the killer. He glanced over at me even as my thoughts finally circled back to him. Mara was holding out her hand to him, both of them still smiling like cheshires at her wild, semi-choerant stories. "What's the matter?" he asked, expression faltering the tiniest amount.

"Just… thinking," I responded noncommittally. He didn't buy it.

"Stop thinking about it," he said quietly, not quite chiding me. "We'll be fine."

"I know," I told him, forcing my hands to continue the work of packing lunch. The art faire was set in the wide open park under the scorching hot sun and I wish I'd had the foresight the first time to bring food and – more importantly – water. It was the tail end of early summer, which meant it was setting into the hottest part of the year and being jammed in a crowd with so many other faire-goers didn't help anyone to cool down at all.

"Do you know when you'll be back?" he asked, clambering to his feet with Mara trying to cling to his arm.

I shook my head. "You'll know," I said. "You'll see it on TV and then I will be back."

"You don't have to do this, Heero," he assured me, though his tone said he knew better. He knew I would. "I have people out looking."

"They won't find him." I almost laughed. While I knew that Quatre's people were good, were thorough, this person was better. Faster. Vicious. "I'll be fine. Just take care of her, okay?" I held out the knapsack for him.

He gave me a half-frown and the weight of the pack pulled his arm down a little bit as he took it. He opened his mouth to say something more, but the phone began to ring. Taking a step out of the way, he glanced to me curiously. I stared. No one called the land line. Work didn't have my home phone number and none of my very few friends called that line because they knew I never answered. Intent on ignoring it, I turned to begin gathering my own gear for the hunt.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Quatre asked, swinging the backpack around his shoulder and letting it settle.

"No one important knows the hard line," I replied sullenly, shoving necessities into my own backpack so I could leave. I would have to be much more discreet due to the huge faire going on just outside my front door; the festivities had bled down onto our street.

Quatre made an exasperated noise and moved to the phone. "You're impossible, really."

A pang of regret lanced through my chest as I watched him answer. Duo had been the same way; he could never leave a ringing phone unanswered. On occasion I'd suspected that was how they'd always caught him during the war- left a phone somewhere he would find it and called until he showed himself to answer. He was so… so…

"You're wasting your time," I growled, turning away from him and stuffing another piece of equipment into my bag.

He gave me a dry look. "Hello?" he greeted politely. For a brief second he listened, looking slightly confused, before he held out the phone to me. "It's... for you."

I rolled my eyes and gave an irritated snort as I snatched the phone. "Of course it is. Hello?" I grated. Who else would it be for; no one else lived here anymore.

"_Come to the front door. Alone_."

The hairs along the back of my neck prickled at the gravelly voice. It was completely static, devoid of emotion. Clearly it was spoken through a voice modification device so as to disguise the caller's identity, but I knew who it was without asking. A shiver raced down my spine and I felt as though I'd been dipped in ice; this was no ordinary phone call. I'd been found. I'd been caught by the person I'd been about to set out to catch.

"Okay," I said calmly, motioning for Quatre to take Mara out the back and silently mouthing 'run' as clearly as possible. He gently picked her up from where she was watching us on the floor, adjusting her to sit on his hip. Though he gave me another confused look, he moved swiftly toward the back of the house. "Who is this?"

"_It's been a year since that boy, that kid you tried to save in that video, sacrificed himself for the world, hasn't it_?" My muscles tightened with every word until I was ready to snap. "_What a shame that was_," the voice cooed mockingly.

Something within me broke at the words. "I don't know what the hell you think you're doing right now but I can tell you that if I see you, if I find you, you'll _wish_ I was kind enough to kill you," I hissed into the phone as I unlocked the small drawer on the underside of the phone's cabinet. My gun felt heavy and awkward in my hands as I pulled it from hiding. "There are far worse things in this world than death. I'm one of them."

"_That is a pretty big claim to make, sir_," the voice said, mocking and amused now even through the modifier. "_Have you ever met Death_?"

"We were acquainted," I growled, remembering how Duo had joked to me late at night during the war. Three bullets, I noted as I stood. I didn't have time to get more, but three would be plenty. I was a good shot.

"_Are you coming outside or shall I step inside to get you_?" the voice asked nonchalantly. "_You're taking an awfully long time_."

"You realize there is an art festival outside my door," I said seriously, laying my hand on the doorknob. I glanced over my shoulder, but Quatre and Mara were nowhere in sight. I hoped I'd given them enough time to get through the fence in the backyard because this was it. If I went down they were next. "You won't get away with anything right now."

"_Oh, I don't intend to get away_," it said smoothly. "_A year ago that boy started covering up tracks that should never have been made. I've been cleaning up the mess those idiots made when they created you. They've been… taken care of properly, along with everyone else involved. You're the last ones; you and that blonde kid you've got in there._"

The voice chuckled, a crackling noise that thickened a lump of fear in my stomach; whoever was on my phone was a stone-cold killer. My hands were shaking the tiniest amount. If what this person said was true, if the person on the other end of the phone could be trusted, that meant that they'd murdered the doctors. It mean they'd already gotten Trowa and Wu Fei. It meant that we hadn't heard from them in so long because we wouldn't be hearing from them ever again.

It meant one wrong step and we were next.

"_So you see, you're it_," the voice continued icily. "_You're my last stop. I don't have to get away after this._"

I swallowed thickly and drew open the front door slowly, staying as clear of the open doorway as possible. I peeked around the frame and saw a mass of people in the streets. Cart vendors had spread this far down, selling food and water to the people who hadn't had the forethought to bring their own. The stir of people was noisy and brash as everyone spoke gaily amongst themselves and enjoyed the cloudy summer day. The sound echoed back to me on the phone so I knew the person wasn't lying. Whoever it was, they were here. Watching me. I scanned the crowd but there was no one standing still, no one that looked like they might have been making the call.

"Where are you?" I demanded, slipping back around the doorframe so I would be at least a little more protected.

"_Did you love him, that boy?_" the voice asked suddenly, curiously. Cruelly. "_I saw you on the news broadcast. It looked like you did._"

"Shut up," I hissed, including a few choice names that only drew more laughter from my caller. "Don't you fucking talk about him. Where are you?"

More laughter. "_I'm right outside; don't tell me you didn't see me. I'll be disappointed after coming all this way for you._"

I took another look around the edge of the doorframe but all I could see was innocent bystanders. People who had no idea what was going on around them, no idea that there was about to be a murder one way or another, right in front of their eyes. I cursed silently, but I knew the thinning crowd was still too thick.

"_Give up?_" it asked softly when I didn't respond after a minute. "_Is it worth it, to spoil it all so soon?_ _Should I even let you see me yet?_"

"If I see you, I _will_ kill you," I snarled under my breath. The crowd was shifting, beginning to clear a little in front of my house and I could see a patch of black that was alone and unmoving.

"_You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Heero,_" the voice said sadly. I saw him them, standing statue still amongst the writhing mass of people. Slim and pale skinned, he was dressed in black almost like an olden-days bodyguard, complete with sunglasses that wouldn't allow you to see eyes at all. The figure smiled devilishly for a split second, as though to say he knew I didn't have a clear shot, before the crowd swallowed him up again.

I couldn't breathe. I took one faltering step forward and halted, mouth working without my throat. There was no way…

"Duo...?"

The mechanical sound of laughter dropped away and became real and rich and _his_ as he pulled the voice modifier away from his lips. "Acquainted?" he asked amusedly. "I think we were a little more than _acquainted_, Love."

My heart was lodged too thickly in my throat to respond with more than a choked "How?" It carried through the phone anyway.

"I disabled the lights inside the machine before you got there, so I wouldn't get hurt. Before the tape began recording. The incinerator didn't activate while I was in it."

"The records," I croaked as he reappeared at the edge of the crowd. He stopped there, clinging uncertainly to the distance between us as if he couldn't decide whether to come closer yet. "Those records can't be reworked. They all said it had been activated while you were there…"

He shook his head with a soft smile and his voice filtered through the phone slightly delayed from when his lips moved. "The time on the tape was wrong. I knew I couldn't reset the machine's records quickly or accurately enough to not be discovered. I ran the machine before you got there and then rigged the recorder to sport the wrong time." He shrugged. "They can check it up and down but if you didn't tell them exactly what time we were there, they'd never know better."

"No," I whispered. "No, you were gone when I opened the doors, Duo."

"Well it wouldn't have looked very bright if you'd opened those doors and I'd still been standing there, would it? I left through the exhaust vents and came back once you were gone to toy with the recording system so it's time was right again," he said simply, sadly. "I'm sorry," he whispered and I could hear the lump in his own throat through the words, even over the phone. "I'm sorry it took me so long and I'm sorry I had to hurt you." He was walking through crowd and his glasses were off and his hair was down from the cap and he was alive in front of me as I dropped my phone away from my ear to stare.

Hesitantly he climbed the front steps of my house… of _our_ house and halted, watching me with a smile full of a year's worth of tears. He was nervous, obviously, unable to tell if I was angry or upset or what. I laughed, but the noise caught in my throat as he opened his arms and suddenly we were together again, hugging and whispering and dropping to the ground. I barked my knees roughly against the cement porch as we landed but I barely noticed. He had his hands in my hair and mine in his as questions and reassurances fell between us like rain.

"I am so sorry," he whispered slowly at last as he kissed my shoulder. I buried my nose a little deeper in the crook of his neck, breathing deeply of him. "I'm sorry."

"I know," I said, because I couldn't bring myself to say 'it's okay'. It wasn't. It hadn't been for a whole year now.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, simply relishing the contact and the presence of one other, letting the adrenaline fade from our systems. I could feel his heartbeat beneath my fingertips and I let it reassure me again and again that he was alive and here and that I wasn't dreaming. His breath in my ear, the feel of his hands over my back, his lips to my skin… it was real this time and I didn't want to let him go, even when he pulled back a little and brushed the hair from my face with both hands, resting his forehead against mine.

"We're safe now, Heero. Forever," he said quietly. "I… I caught up with the doctors last week, I'm sure you heard about them."

"Everyone heard," I replied, feeling a little sick. "You did that?"

He shook his head. "No… I wanted to, but I didn't. They did it to themselves. Hired someone else." His eyes dropped away from mine, in guilt he knew he shouldn't feel but couldn't help. "Before they… I talked to them. They… they said they came to our house when all of this started. They sent someone to find us but we were gone. We'd gone to the hospital, do you remember? We just left all that blood, Heero."

Numbness seized where my thoughts should have been just then. "We locked the door. We cleaned it… we…" I trailed off because I realized just then that… we _hadn't_ cleaned it. I hadn't even thought about it when we got home that night or before I left for work the next day. We'd left all that blood there; I'd been too angry to pay attention to what I thought was being left safe in our house.

"They didn't take any. They thought they were too late so they cleaned it up and tried to come up with a secondary plan of action." He chuckled then but it was rife with bitterness. "I guess you guys think alike; their solution was to blow things up, too. They sent Trowa to destroy all hard evidence a few days later, even our hospital records on file here, before they realized we were still alive."

"And once they'd realized it?"

"Remember how we made a run for it in the middle of the night, and we saw those guys go to our house?" he asked, and my stomach twisted uneasily.

"Yeah."

"Docs sent them to pick us up before anyone else could nab us. If we'd stayed that night, we could have avoided everything. Unfortunately I didn't know that until last week."

It was my turn to shake my head. "We could have hidden with them for a while, but… it would never have been safe."

With a small smile, he pulled a tiny vial of clear liquid from his pocket, pried one of my hands free of him, and pressed the container into my palm. "We'll never have to hide, Heero. They took care of the blood we gave them and used it to create an enzyme that neutralizes the viral coding. Eats it, essentially. They were going to use it to spray down our house, so nothing in it could be used, but then they found out we were still alive. They made it viable for our bloodstream. Circulation time is roughly three weeks after injection."

I stared down at the vial in my hand, eyes wide.

"Three weeks," he whispered next to my ear, echoing my thoughts. "Three weeks and we're _free_." He caught my eyes as soon as I looked up again. Smiling softly, he wiped at his eyes with the heel of his hand. There was not anything I could say that could match up to that revelation and so silence fell between us for a moment. "But it can wait for later, he said finally, voice a little stronger. The vial had disappeared from my hand before he spoke; his thievery skills had not dulled. "Where's the squirt?"

I cursed before I could stop myself and almost struggled to my feet. Shit. I'd told Quatre to run with her and they could be anywhere by now. My hands were faster than my feet, snatching up my cell phone from where it lay on the pavement before I could stand. It was ringing before I'd known I dialed.

"Where are you?" I asked before he'd finished saying hello.

"Mmm," he said with a smile in his tone. "We're about twenty feet into the backyard. Are you two going to come to the faire with us now?"

Duo started laughing just as I would have gotten angry. "You _knew_?" I growled, shoving at Duo who couldn't seem to help himself. "Since when?"

"Only since Tuesday, I swear," he said, laughing now himself. "Trowa knew longer; he told me Duo called him before you even aired that tape."

I glared at Duo. "You called him the day it happened?"

He shrugged helplessly with a smile, shoulders still shaking in mirth. "I had to have a plan! Someone would have figured it out if I didn't have help."

"You could have told me," I said softly and his demeanor changed.

"It had to be real," he explained gently, eyes turning away from mine. "I didn't know… I didn't know if I would be able to do it; kill everyone and come back to you. I didn't know if I'd survive that or if I would want to come back with such stained hands. I wanted to let you and Mara live in peace if I couldn't come back, let you think what everyone else thought. I'm sorry, Heero." He glanced up through his lashes and then down again. "Would it have been any better, knowing?"

My own words to him echoed in my head as he spoke and I leaned forward, closing the phone and setting it down once more as I pulled his chin up to look at me. He did so only reluctantly. "I _am_ sorry, Duo. I am. I should have told you all of it from the beginning. I shouldn't have let it get so bad. It should have been my hands, not yours, taking care of the mess. I wish it had been."

He leaned forward and kissed me tenderly before smiling the slightest bit. "I don't," he whispered. I should have been angry with him, I wanted to be angry with him for not saying anything but relief was so thick in my veins that I couldn't bother with anything else. I felt sick my stomach was so tight. "What are we going to tell her?"

"She isn't old enough to know."

"She will be," he countered softly.

My chest tightened at the thought of having to tell another unsuspecting person. "It's over now," I said thickly. "She never has to know."

"We don't have the right to keep it from her," he soothed, so gently that I nearly believed him. "It's not a question of if we have to," he continued sadly. "It's a question of which truth she hears. Will it be our truth? _The_ truth? Should we tell her that her existence, like ours, once endangered humanity? Should we tell her someone might get the wrong idea about her someday or should we tell her it's okay now? That it's over?"

"Duo…" I said warningly. I could hear footsteps from inside the house now. Quatre was on his way to the front with the little girl in question.

"You can't hide from it forever. You can't let her be another me. She deserves to know her past and you are going to have to decide which story to tell." Quatre joined us with Mara in his arms and Artemis on a leash even as Duo's words rang in the air between us. The dog fell upon Duo and I with a wagging tail and soggy tongue until we were forced apart and to our feet to escape.

"Daddy!" Mara squealed happily, holding out her arms as soon as he was tall enough to take her. He grabbed her up and lifted her into the air before settling her against one hip. He gave me a sheepish smile as he placed Mara back on solid earth and then glanced to Quatre. They exchanged an embrace and a few whispered words of greetings and gratitude before parting.

"So I hear there is an art faire in town," Duo said happily, holding one hand out to me in proposition when the exciting moment had passed. I slipped mine into his, relishing the simple contact as his smile broadened. "It's been a very long time since I've done anything _normal_."

"Duo," I said very seriously, tugging back on his hand as he began to leave. He turned to look, a shadow of worry crossing his features. "We are not normal people, you know that, right? We never will be. We can't _afford_ to be, not even now."

"I know," he said, eyes dropping to the ground. He nearly pulled his hand from mine but I held tighter this time. I wouldn't let him go again. Never again.

"But Duo," I murmured as I drew him closer. "That's okay. I did 'normal' for a whole year and it was nothing half as special as what we can be."

"You think so?" he asked as Mara took off down the front porch steps. Quatre was moving past us with Artemis, who faithfully followed behind Her Girl with perked ears and a wagging tail. I smiled, swallowing against the tightness that still lingered in my throat at having Duo back so suddenly, and threaded my fingers into his as I watched the others practically romp toward the faire.

I looked to Duo and he smiled back. We had been through so much, seen so many things, killed so many people… Our lives had been uprooted more times than I could count and we had lost those close to us so often, so forcefully it left scars inside and out. We would never be normal people because our pasts did not allow for it. We would always be separate from the rest of the population. When I looked into Duo's eyes what stared back at me would always be our past; it would always be the war and the pain no matter what other joys or happiness was there.

We would _always_ be different, I thought as I stared at him. But that didn't mean we were worse off than anyone normal. It didn't mean we wouldn't have each other. That didn't mean the others wouldn't be there through it, be there to be the same different. It didn't mean we had to be _alone_.

I stepped over to him, brushing my lips against his, felt the curve of his smile, the pulse of his heart as he pressed back gently. "I _know_ so," I whispered against his lips.

Mara's squeal of delight split through the air but neither of us turned to look. I thought back to what he had asked of me just before she appeared with Quatre. Did I really want to let her go through what Duo had been through with me? There was no way I could avoid hurting her; either I told her too much or too little. I searched Duo's eyes even as I thought it, remembered the look on his face when I told him how much I had kept from him. I remembered the way my own chest tightened knowing that I had lied via omission to the person I loved most in the world; knowing that I had done the one thing that he hated above all else.

He was right. She deserved better than that. _He_ had deserved better than that but the past was made of scars that would never heal. The best I could do now was to make sure no one else was hurt by this.

"I know so. I know we are going to make it, Duo, normal or not," I assured him softly at last. "All of us. And when the time comes, I will tell her _everything_ she wants to know about her inheritance, both name and blood." I took his hand again and he grasped it tightly. "But not today," I said softly. "Today let's just… let it go."

We're safe, I told him silently. It's over now.

We don't have to go back to the battlefield. We don't have to fight or kill or run or hide. We don't have to pretend we're something we're not; we don't have to be soldiers in a war we didn't declare.

_We don't have to go back_.

It was _over_, I told myself smiling as the words settled warmly within me, as we set foot inside our new, clean lives for the first time. We'd won. After over twenty years of fighting off everything we didn't want to be and never asked for, twenty years of scars that would never leave us, twenty years of memories that would never heal, we had finally won. We were finally, finally _free_.

We weren't settled or finished sorting ourselves out. We didn't have a plan or much of a path to follow. I didn't know where we were going to go from here, where we were going to end up or what would happen along the way. I didn't know what other problems would crop up alongside our new life or how we would handle it. I didn't know how far we'd make it on our own. There was a lot I didn't know as I set forth that day.

I did know two things, though, I thought as I watched my daughter play with my friend and my dog, as my fingers twined a little more tightly into those of my lover.

I knew that though we were safe, we weren't 'okay' yet.

But I also knew… we would be.

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/**End Epilogue, Inheritance**/

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/**End Inheritance**/

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Notes:

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Please see my profile again (it has changed and is worth reading again now).

I just… thank you. To all of those people who stuck this out to the end. To all of those people who trusted me enough to not lynch me when Duo 'died'. To all of those who are reading this story in its entirety for the first time. THANK YOU. I cannot say it enough.

I hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The last thing I would like to do before I leave you to review is issue a thank you to Saramoon5, without whose help this story would never have been written. Another thank you needs to be issued to Mazmaraz and Keiichi Sei for their beta-reading work throughout this story. Thanks guys; you're awesome in a way words can't properly describe.

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